Dream Busted
by IBD Ninja
Summary: "I know it's possible to be a in a different position when you dream, like as a book character- I've done that once or twice. But everything I'm hearing is scary accurate- and besides, he never bothers listening to what they do. Something is up. And I intend to find out what."
1. Chapter 1

Piper angrily typed on her Pear Phone, hating the situation she as in. For everyone else on Planet Earth (and other places), life was normal, as far as she was concerned. But not for Piper Hart.

Normally, she'd be at full volume and yelling at everyone instead of typing away. Well, actually, she'd be doing both. But she couldn't do both right then.

Are you getting the sense that things weren't _entirely_ normal at that moment?

Yeah.

Piper, as we all know, yells. A lot. The constant volume took its toll and she ended up with (drumroll please) laryngitis. She's had it for almost a week, so it was much better, but she wasn't supposed to talk just yet.

Any doctor can tell you that laryngitis sucks, but doesn't mean you are glued to the couch.

But try telling _Piper_ that. (Please don't, choose life.)

Across the house, Henry's phone dinged. This is what the text read:

 _HENRY!_

Now, if Piper could actually speak, she would've yelled at her brother like nobody's business- and she wanted to. If it were a line for, say, a TV show or something in a script, it would look like this:

 _HENNNNNNNRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!_

You get the point.

Anyway, Henry glanced at his phone and gave a Piper a dirty look.

"Relax, I'm going as fast as I can."

Which was kinda sorta true. Well, kinda sorta a lie.

Another text came in:

 _I think NOT_

Which was actually funny and almost made Henry laugh. He _could_ actually move faster. A _lot_ faster. Piper just didn't know that.

Henry picked up the glass he had been handling and took it to Piper, along with a little bottle. The bottle had a few pills that Piper was supposed to take. She practically snatched them from her brother.

Henry rolled his eyes and walked back to the kitchen. _Of all days,_ he thought, _for Mom and Dad to have a little date night._

Of course, Henry had nothing against that, but he was _not_ at all happy about them making him take off work to take care of Piper. Neither was Ray, who actually offered to help him sneak out.

A few minutes later, Henry was sitting in the kitchen was scrolling through different news stories about Kid Danger (cause, well, yeah) when the door opened and his best friend (and Jasper) walked in.

"Hey Hen. Hey Piper," Charlotte said, walking down the steps. Piper waved at her (not over enthusiastically, but she liked Charlotte) but glared at Jasper when he said hi to them.

"Hey guys," Henry jammed his phone into his pocket, "anything interesting happen today?"

This was code (more or less, it wasn't official… yet) for _Is there anything I should be concerned about?_ Charlotte (who understood what Henry was really asking) shook her head no, but whispered, "Kinda. I'll explain later."

"Got it." Henry motioned for them to sit down. They did, and he lowered his voice. "Piper is driving me _crazy_."

His phone dinged as a text came in that read _I HEARD THAT!_

Henry rolled his eyes and showed Jasper and Charlotte his phone. "My point exactly."

Charlotte and Jasper giggled. Piper glared at them from across the room, and door opened again.

Enter the parents.

"Hey Mom and Dad."

"Hi, Hen- oh, hi Charlotte," his mom replied cheerfully, sitting down on the chair. "Oh, hi Jasper," she added.

Charlotte and Jasper said hi to the Hart parents.

"Okay," Henry said to his mom and dad, "you're home, so I'm off Piper duty, right?"

"Yes, you're free to go," said his father. Jasper snorted and poked his friend in the arm. "You said _duty_."

Henry rolled his eyes and took his friends upstairs. "Finally," he said as he closed his bedroom door behind him. "What's going on?"

The three of them (yes, Jasper too) sat in a circle (well, a circle-like shape, anyway. It was really more of a triangle) so Henry could be updated.

"Well," said Charlotte in a low voice, "there hasn't been any _real_ crime, but we did find out a few _things_ about a few certain _people_."

"Alright, hit me. Ow!" The _ow_ was because Jasper hit him. "Not what I meant, dude."

"Sorry," he said with a shrug.

"Anyway," said Charlotte, clearly trying not to laugh, "here's what we found out: one, Jeff was spotted in a train station, getting on a train that was headed for Texas. It left a few minutes ago. We searched and searched- well, I did- but the only evidence we found was a badly misspelled email from his parents demanding that he go visit."

"Alright."

"And two-" Charlotte hesitated for a moment and Jasper gave her a _Just Spit It Out_ look. "And two, and, Henry, _don't_ , I repeat, do NOT freak out, Nurse Cohort was at Junk N' Stuff."

"WHA-" Charlotte slapped a hand over his mouth. "Shhh! I _said_ not to freak out!"

"Yeah!" Jasper yell-whispered, trying to be helpful. Charlotte glared at him.

Henry shoved her hand away. "Nurse Cohort was at Junk N' Stuff and you didn't tell me until JUST NOW?!" Henry was yell-whispering, but he was clearly about to lose it.

"Henry, calm down." Charlotte put her hand over his mouth again. "Look, Jasper recognized her immediately, so he called downstairs. I watched everything happen from the Man Cave monitors while Ray went upstairs, just in case. But nothing happened."

Henry pushed her hand away again. "Define 'nothing'."

"'Nothing' as in nothing. Nothing illegal, anyway. She bought- what did she buy again, Jasper?"

"She bought one of those whatchamacallits. With the balls." He lightly pounded his fists together, each making the other one move.

"A Newton's Cradle," clarified Charlotte. "Then she left. We used the cameras to watch her until she was gone."

"That's it?" Henry looked shocked- and he was. He turned to Jasper. "She didn't threaten you, or anything? She didn't say _anything_ about-" his voice went down "- _Kid Danger_ or _Captain Man_?"

Jasper shook his head. "Nope. We're pretty sure she and Dr. Maniac aren't not up to anything, but we're keeping a close eye on them anyway."

"Have you seen _anything_ … you know, _suspicious_?"

"I'll answer that," said Charlotte, "if you calm down with the italics."

"Sorry."

"Good boy." Henry rolled his eyes but didn't say anything.

"Now," Charlotte began, "Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort haven't done anything weird or something made us worry, although seeing Nurse Cohort in the store was pretty nerve wracking."

"No duh, you almost gave me a heart attack. Life, scary-ride-at-Disney-World heart attack."

"Sorry. But here's the strange part-"

"They're already strange on their own."

"Thank you for the input, Jasper. But besides that. Both Minyak and Cohort don't seem to have interacted with each other very much since the last time. In fact, they live on opposite sides of town now."

Jasper decided to jump in. "Minyak lives in that place where I hear the whole incident with those insects took place. Uh… they're called Happy Bugs, right?"

"Jolly Beetles," Henry corrected him.

"Dang it."

"Anyway," Charlotte, as usual, was the one to get her friends back on topic, "Nurse Cohort has an apartment on the edge of Swellview. The same one your old basketball coach lives in. Same building, not apartment," she added quickly.

"Yeah, I kinda figured."

"So… we're pretty sure that they aren't causing trouble."

" _Pretty_ sure?"

"Of cou- Yeah. Pretty sure."

"How reassuring." Henry rubbed his eye with his fist. "I'm gonna have nightmares about this tonight."

As it turns out, Henry was right.

* * *

 **I'm baaaaaaaaaaack! Welcome to the new story! This one will have the same update** **schedule as last time, one new chapter every Sunday.**

 **I'm a heavy editor, but if anyone finds a typo, please let me know, I would really appreciate it! Reviews and constructive criticism welcome. :)**

 **I realized something while I was editing last night: this is the one year anniversary of my joining Fanfiction! Yay! Let's celebrate with cake and p** **resents! (Just kidding.) :P**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

Piper frowned at her phone screen. Apparently, if she didn't plug it in soon, her cell would die and she would- gasp!- _not have it for the rest of the day._

Actually, it would technically be for the rest of the night. It was almost midnight/Saturday and Piper was scrolling through Twitter before going to sleep. (Yeah. We'll see about that.) She reached over for her charger and plugged her phone in, but it wouldn't work.

Mentally grumbling swear words (still hadn't gotten her voice back), she left her room and opened her brother's door to borrow (well, steal) his charger.

Piper had intended to quickly nab the cord and socket so Henry wouldn't wake up and make her leave it, but things didn't necessarily go according to plan.

Henry didn't wake up when Piper walked in, and _that's_ what made things interesting.

Henry hadn't been wrong when he said he would have nightmares. Piper took the cord and was almost at the door when she heard him say something about an emergency.

 _Huh._ Piper stopped and listened. Her eyes widened at what she was hearing.  
"Minyak… at my house… Ray... Pi-" Piper could actually see his body tense up at that part. Actually, it was already tense. "Uhh piiiiiiiiiineapple… love pineapple... _four_ fists… you shoulda said… hope you're thirsty… bringing some punch… let's do it…"

Piper recognized the dialogue. What spooked her was the fact that Kid Danger had said it, not Henry.  
"... whadda you mean _flies_ … you listen to me Dr. Minyak… that girl you're dead meat…"

 _Okay,_ this _is getting freaky._ Piper was ready to head for the door but couldn't will herself to move. She stood there, listening.

"... not that I know that girl personally… it's my job to care... fine, we'll just call the police… thought that would work…"

At that point during the incident, Piper had been preoccupied watching Jasper and didn't catch what Kid Danger said. Once again, she considered leaving, but couldn't bring herself to move. After awhile, she heard him start talking again.

"... uh… just cheese… fair enough…"

The words ceased for a bit and Piper almost left, but Henry started talking again. Before that, though, he had this fake smile on his face.

"... think you mean 4K…"

Suddenly, Henry moaned a little in his sleep and turned around. Piper gasped and backed up against the closet door. She had her palm wrapping around on the handle, ready to hide.

Fortunately for Piper, however, Henry just gripped his pillow and mumbled something about Captain Man.

 _Jesus rice,_ thought Piper. She quietly (huh. Never thought the word "quiet" would be associated with that kid) crept toward the door and made her escape. Somehow, she managed to make it to her room without sprinting.

She sat on her bed, squeezing a stuffed owl. Her mind raced.

 _Okay,_ she thought, _I know it's possible to be a in a different position when you dream, like as a book character- I've done that once or twice. But everything I'm hearing is scary accurate- and besides, he never bothers listening to what they do. He just doesn't seem to care. Henry wasn't even there that day. I suppose Jasper could've told him later- but word for word? No way._

 _And come to think of it, I never even see him whenever I go to Junk N' Stuff. But he's almost never home, either. And I never did find out where he had sneaked out to that night. Is it... nah. Well... maybe... I don't know WHAT to think, but something is up._  
 _And I intend to find out what._

* * *

In spite of what she just experienced, Piper still managed to fall asleep after just a few minutes. Upon waking up the next morning, she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. Then her head snapped up as she remembered last night's events.  
"Henry," she muttered. Then her head snapped up again and she repeated his name.  
Huh. Piper drank some water from the bathroom sink and spat out a few random words. (You probably don't want to know what they were.) Sure enough, her voice was back. Not all the way, but enough that it almost sounded semi-normal.  
Piper tiptoed over to her brother's room. The door was open and she peeked inside.

"Henry?" She walked in and looked around. The room was empty. Piper went downstairs and found her mother in front of the stove.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hi, sweetie, oh, your voice is back, how did-"

"Yeah, yeah fine, where's Henry?"

"He just left for work. You want some pancakes?"

"Dang it," Piper muttered. Her mom turned to her. "Hmm?"

"Nothing! Um, I mean, yeah, pancakes sound great, I'll be back." Piper turned around and dashed upstairs. She quickly threw on some real clothes- a tight-ish shirt that read _I Know I Talk To Myself. Sometimes I Need Expert Advice_ and skinny jeans. Instead of actual shoes, she picked up her bunny slippers and started for downstairs.

About halfway to the kitchen, she realized that she forgot her laptop. Muttering under her breath, she ran back upstairs for it.

A few minutes later, she pulled up Google and stared at the screen, nibbling on a pancake.

First, she googled _Junk N' Stuff_ and clicked on the first link, which was Google Maps.

Not much to go on. She opened a new tab and searched _Kid Danger_. A million different results popped up.

Frowning, Piper took a bite of her pancake rather aggressively and almost bit her tongue. She changed her search to Captain Man and Kid Danger Man Cave.

All she got from that were links to that contest and-

 _Waiiiiiit a minute._ Piper squinted at her screen. There was a link that was entitled _Searching For The Man Cave_. She clicked on it.

A little window popped up that read _Please Enter The Password_. Piper quirked an eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "Who the butt would create a website that requires a freaking password?" Piper mumbled. She bit her lip. Her fingers moved across the keyboard.

Piper was really surprised when _password_ got her in. So whoever created this thing is either really bad at passwords or wants people to-

Piper gasped and slammed her computer shut. Her mind raced; what if people were supposed to find this site for some reason? What if some bad guy made it?

Piper shook her head. If some villain or other wanted people to find the site, then there wouldn't be a password. Cautiously, she reopened the laptop. Just to be safe, though, she put tape over the camera and made sure the virus protection thing was working.

The screen looked like one of those blackboards that used to be used in schools a lot. It was covered with words in tiny print. She tried scrolling. Nope.

Something caught her eye. One of the tiny words was underlined. Raising her eyebrows, she clicked on it.

An image popped up, making her jump. She squinted at it. It was kind of fuzzy, but there was a figure who was clearly Captain Man, and he- _wait, has two extra legs and head?_

 _Oh, wait, it's Kid Danger._

The photo seemed to magically become clearer. Captain Man appeared to be carrying Kid Danger for some reason. Maybe he was unconscious, or something.

There actually _was_ an explanation for all this. Piper just didn't know it.

 **Man, it feels like more than a week has gone by…**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

" _Kid! Look out!"_

 _Kid Danger ducked as Dr. Minyak pulled the trigger on the Dream Beam. He didn't have the Hyper Motility yet, but still managed to narrowly dodge the laser._

 _Unfortunately, in doing so he lost his balance and skidded across the concrete. Minyak shot again. Kid Danger saw, and his eyes went wide before the beam hit him right in the center of the forehead._

" _KID!" Captain Man fired a laser at Minyak as he knelt down beside his sidekick. He missed, and the villain disappeared from sight._

 _Captain Man muttered some very unpleasant words under his breath and shook his sidekick, trying to rouse him._

" _Kid? Kid Danger? Henry? Speak to me, man!"_

 _That's when he noticed something. The Dream Beam has left a small, circular imprint on Kid Danger's head that would soon disappear. Captain Man had studied many weapons in time, the Dream Beam included. It always left this mark; that's how he knew what his sidekick had been shot with._

 _Captain Man was both relieved and even more worried. He knew what the Dream Beam could do, which scared him, but at least he knew that Kid Danger was still alive. Swearing, the superhero picked up his sidekick and started running to the Man Van._

 _From the shadows, a figure peeked out with an old fashioned camera and snapped a photo._

 _Nurse Cohort smiled to herself, knowing that Dr. Minyak would be so proud of her_

* * *

After the whole incident with Charlotte getting musically brain warped (a whole different story), Captain Man and Kid Danger erased the villains memories, thus they forgot about the website, not to mention the password.

Piper, obviously, didn't know about all that. Ray and Henry did (duh), but the photo nor the site were behind their knowledge.

Piper sighed and gently closed her laptop. _What am I doing?_ She held up her head with her palms. She knew that the internet couldn't give her very much information that she didn't already know. When Captain Man made her the Man Fans President, she spent an entire week reading news reports about him and Kid Danger, but had never seen this. It occurred to her that if someone was trying to track down the Man Cave, then Captain Man and Kid Danger should know.

Piper frowned and nibbled on her pancake more. For the first time, it was really sinking in that her brother might be Kid Danger.

 _Wait. I thought Kid Danger was_ cute _._

Fifteen minutes and five glasses of water later, Piper's nausea had finally disappeared and she was on her bed, hugging her stuffed owl.

"I feel so gross right now," she mumbled. "In my defense, though, I didn't know."

It dawned on Piper that she might not be right about all this. No one likes being corrected, but Piper hoped more than anything that she was wrong.

And not just because she felt sick, either. In spite of all their bickering, they were still siblings, and she loved him. (As a brother.) And she didn't want him to get himself killed on a mission, even with the Hyper Motility-

Piper suddenly shot straight up. _Kid Danger has Hyper Motility._ If her theory- that Henry was Kid Danger (barf)- was correct, then she should be able to move fast.

Piper thought for a minute. She knew that Kid Danger would reflexively react to a stimulus in a fast manner. _If,_ she thought, _I can make him dodge something or something, then I'll catch him!_

 _Wait._ Piper slumped back. If she kept just attacking him with a pillow or whatever, he could get suspicious. _Maybe I should not try that... yet._

Piper bit her lip. Attacking her brother should probably be a last resort, but that meant that she would have to find a different way to solve the mystery

* * *

"... and at that point I woke up," Henry finished. "So I was right."

He and Charlotte were down in the Man Cave, on the couch. Ray was downstairs with Schwoz trying to fix a broken dart shooter. (Well, Schwoz was. Ray was just nagging him to hurry up.) Jasper was upstairs, gradually getting more and more annoyed with an elderly man who was taking forever to pick something out. Bork was at the local gym with some friends.

"Yeah, I guess you were." Charlotte took a sip of her soda. "Although you didn't have to tell the whole story. I know what happened, I was there."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He hadn't thought of that.

"Of course I'm right."

Henry laughed. "Actually, you were at my house while I was here at some point, so, technically, you weren't _always_ there."

"Come on, Hen, you know I'm always there for you."

"True."

Behind them, the right tube came down and they watched Ray zoom up, looking happy. "Hey, kids. Wazzup?"

"Hey Ray," Henry and Charlotte said together.

Ray positioned himself on the other side of the couch. "So did you guys find anything?"

Henry and Charlotte exchanged a look. "Um… what?" Henry asked after a moment of silence.

Ray, his enthusiasm unwavering, said, "Um, I asked you two-" he wiggled his fingers at them "-to see if you could find Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort and see if they were doing anything that we should keep an eye on." His real smile faded into a fake smile. "You two weren't just sitting here talking, right?"

Henry and Charlotte turned to each other and both went, "Uh…."

Ray finally frowned. "So that's a yes, then."

"Sorry, Ray," said Charlotte. She slid off the couch, and Henry quickly followed. "We'll get to that now."

Charlotte nabbed the chair (as usual), so Henry stood behind her. She made a few clicks- Henry had no idea what they were- and the two villains appeared on the screen.

Dr. Minyak was asleep on a bench at Swellview Park. Instead of the lab coat that they were so used to seeing him in, he had on a plain grey T-shirt and jeans that had more holes than the lies that Henry feeds his family about his job and that stuff. He was wearing gray sneakers that _also_ had holes worn in them.

Nurse Cohort was, as it turns out, also in Swellview Park, but on the opposite side. She was sitting at a picnic table, greedily chowing down an everything hotdog- her white top was splattered with ketchup and other stuff. So were her pants, which were also white. And her white dress shoes. (Obviously, she picked the wrong day to wear that color.) Rather than being up, her hair was down and actually resembled Charlotte's, except the curls were much bigger.

"So," began Ray, getting cut off when both teenagers screamed, having not realized he had snuck up behind him. "So," he started again, "where are they?"

"They're both at Swellview Park, but on opposite sides," said Charlotte.

Ray stroked his chin and thought for a moment. "Maybe… maybe we should keep an eye on them."

"Like, though the cameras?" Charlotte asked.

"Or are you saying we actually _go_ to the park?"

"That's right, Henry. I think we should hang around and see if we can catch them doing anything. We can each watch one."

Henry nodded in agreement, but Charlotte raised her hand and said, "One problem. They might get suspicious if they see you following them."

Ray nodded and stroked his chin again. "That's true." He snapped his fingers. "Which is why _you're_ coming with us!"

"What?! Oh, no no no no no no no." Charlotte jumped up from the chair and put her hands up in front of her. "No way."

"Don't worry, Charlotte. We're not actually attacking them or anything. Yet," he added under his breath. Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"We'll take a Schwoz with us, too," Henry chimed in. "You'll be fine. Besides," he stood up and put his fists on his hips, "Kid Danger will be there to protect you."

"And Captain Man!" Ray stood in front of Henry and put on the same pose. Henry tried get in front, and they both stated pushing each other out of the way.

"My heroes," said Charlotte sarcastically. "I'll get Schwoz."

 **I thought about starting off this authors note with "I'M SO SORRY!", but technically it's still Sunday where I am, so, really, it's just been posted later in the day. Sorry, y'all. It's show weekend for our summer musical, so that took up most of my weeked.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Bye Mom! I'll be back later!"

"Bye, sweetie! Love you!"

Piper shut the door behind her and climbed into the car. As it turns out, the gang down in the Man Cave weren't the only ones headed somewhere.

While Henry and Charlotte were locating Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort, Piper had decided to go to Junk N' Stuff to look for… well, actually, that was the one uncertain part of her plan. She wasn't exactly sure why she was going, although finding Henry seemed be a good place to start.

Piper turned the radio on before taking off. A few songs and almost getting hit by a car later, she parked in front of the store and went inside.

Piper was greeted by both Jasper and the dinosaur. Jasper started to say hey, but she cut him off.

"Yeah, hi, where's Henry?"

Piper immediately noticed that Jasper looked really nervous. _Come to think of it,_ she thought, _he_ always _gets nervous when I come here._

"He, um…" Jasper stuttered a little before he realized that Piper was talking again. "Hey, you got your voice back."

"Yes, I did." Piper took a step forward, trying really hard to keep her patience from running out. "So I'm using it to ask you a question: where is Henry?"

"Ummmmmmmmmm why?"

" _That_ is none of _your_ beeswax." Piper took another step forward; she was really starting to lose control of her temper. " _Just tell me._ "

Jasper's hands started sweating (more than usual) and was struggling to find words when the elevator dinged from the back room.

The ears of both Piper and Jasper practically perked up like those of a dog's. Piper didn't hesitate and started for the back room just as the elevator's occupants started for the main room.

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

"Char, are you- Piper?!"

"What just _happened_?"

Piper had completely collided with Charlotte, who was standing right in front of Henry, and they both lost their footing. Only Piper actually hit the ground; Henry helped Charlotte catch her balance before she completely rolled over on her ankle. Behind Henry, Ray stopped in his tracks and Schwoz ran into _him_. Once he heard Piper's voice, though, the inventor ducked back into the elevator so she wouldn't see him.

"Piper," said Henry once both girls were steady again, "what are you doing here?"

Piper opened her mouth to answer but realized she didn't have any kind of explanation ready.

By now, the three teens and Piper were all in the main room of the store. Ray came out from the back. "Can we help you with something, Popper?"

"Piper," the girl snapped. "And… um…"

At that point, she completely panicked on the inside. She didn't want anyone to know she was on to Henry.

Piper could only think of two options: give in or get out.

She ran to the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

Henry and his friends exchanged looks. "Well _that_ was weird," he said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah," added Charlotte. "Usually when she comes here she's demanding something."

"Maybe she just forgot, or just really needed to go," suggested Jasper. The others shrugged, not bothering to give Jasper's theories too much thought right then.

"Wait," said Charlotte, looking around. "Where's Schwoz?"

"Schwoz?"

"Is she gone?" Schwoz didn't dare to raise his voice as he peeked out from the open elevator.

"Yeah, she's gone, Schwoz. You can come out."

Schwoz cautiously came out from the back. "Are you scared of her, or something?" Ray asked.

"She thinks he lives under her house," said Charlotte. Henry and Ray gave her a questioning by look.

"What?" Henry looked towards the bathrooms.

"Long story, I'll explain later. Let's go, before they leave the park."

Four pairs of feet ran across the floor and left the building as Jasper called, "Wait, what about me?" He frowned. "Don't worry, they'll come back for me in three, two…." Jasper gestured at the door and nothing happened. Sighing, he took a snack cake out of his pocket and started eating.

Meanwhile, Piper tried not to barf as she watched her brother's sweaty friend chew with his mouth open. When his eyes were closed, she raced out of the store.

They were gone. She missed them.

Piper grumbled and climbed into her car. Her head was still trying to get around what she just heard.

Yep, everything the boys and Charlotte said had been heard by Piper. All of it.

The whole guy-lives-under-her-house thing was still confusing her a few minutes later, but she figured out one thing: "the park" had to mean Swellview Park.

* * *

"Hen, why do you think Piper was acting so weird earlier?"

"Shh, she might hear us!"

"I know, that's why I'm whispering!"

"Oh."

The gang had arrived at Swellview Park a few minutes earlier, glad to find that both villains were still there. Charlotte and Henry had agreed to call dibs on watching Nurse Cohort back in the van, since she was a bit smaller and would be easier for them to take down (if needed) than Minyak. Ray agreed, although he did grumble a little about getting "stuck" with Schwoz, as he put it.

Nurse Cohort was still at the same bench she was at earlier, but she had moved on from the hot dog to a giant ice cream cone that was dripping onto her shirt (and pants and shoes). At this rate, she would have an entire tye dye ensemble with pink, brown, red, and several other colors.

Anyway, Henry and Charlotte were hiding in a big bush about ten, fifteen feet from her back, the former holding a pair of binoculars. They weren't sure were Ray and Schwoz were at this point, but they hadn't received any message saying Minyak was out of sight.

Anyway, back to their whispered conversation. "I don't know," said Henry in response to Charlotte's question about Piper. "Maybe those meds she was taking did something weird to her. Japser could've been right."

"Maybe… but something's still bugging me." Charlotte shifted her position before her butt could start getting numb.

"Yeah, you're right. Now that you mention it," he lowered the binoculars and looked at her, "I've got kind of a funny feeling, too." He frowned, his forehead creased with worry. "You don't think…?"

Charlotte caught on immediately. "Jesus rice, I hope not."

"Me too. Although it _would_ be nice if I could get her to stop calling my alter ego hot."

"Yeah, I don't think-" Charlotte gasped all of a sudden and pointed towards Nurse Cohort, her finger almost out of the bush. "Henry, look!"

Henry practically slapped the binoculars back onto his face and watched. Charlotte leaned forward some and squinted through the leaves.

Nurse Cohort had pulled out a small vial of clear liquid. The woman casually looked around before producing a dropper and dipping it in. Then, she gave one final glance around before putting a single drop of the liquid onto the her shirt.

Henry and Charlotte watched in amazement as her food-splattered clothes seemed to glow and became out-of-the-dryer clean. The two teens exchanged a look. Whatever that stuff is can clearly get rid of food stains, but they were thinking about what _else_ it could clean away; fingerprints, for example.

Nurse Cohort didn't see Henry and Charlotte, so that wasn't her reason for getting up and walking away. The two teens barely realized she was leaving before they saw she wasn't sitting down anymore.

"Shoot!" Henry flipped open his Wiz Watch and called Ray.

"Henry, what is it?" The image of Ray was a bit distorted, since he was crouched down behind a tree.

"Ray, Nurse Cohort just left the table."

"Where's she going?"

"I dunno, I can still see her, about ten feet or so away from the table." Henry glanced over, then looked back at his boss. "Maybe fifteen, I think-"

Charlotte suddenly seized his arm. "Henry!" she hissed, suddenly frantic.

He gave her a worried look. "What?"

With a shaking arm, Charlotte pointed towards where Nurse Cohort was walking.

That general direction led to Piper.

 **Again, y'all, sorry last week's chapter got posted so late in the day, so I did all the editing and stuff on Saturday so this one would be ready to post in the morning.**

 **So, this is my last full week of summer vacation (having mixed emotions...), and I'm a little behind on having chapters written and ready. I'll do as much as I can, but having a new chapter posted as early in the morning as I have gotten them may not be as frequent. BUT, I do still plan to update every Sunday.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I just realized I completely forgot to put a spoiler warning, sorry about that. Also, this story takes place sometime after _Saturday_ _Night_ _Lies_** **because new episodes won't air until September. On with the story!**

So an evil super villain was heading towards a girl she had previously helped take hostage, and said just so happened to be the little sister of Kid Danger _and_ Man Fans president.

Not exactly calming, right?

Henry rose up and practically jumped out of the bush. Or would've, if Charlotte hadn't stopped him by grabbing his arm,

"Charlotte, what the butt?" Henry hissed, struggling to break free from her grip. _Since when is Charlotte this strong?_

"Henry, if you jump out, someone's gonna notice and it's going to look suspicious, particularly to Nurse Cohort. And you and I both know that you're sister's going to question it."

Henry realized that he hadn't thought of that, but still wanted out of that bush. "Yeah, what what if Nurse Cohort recognizes Piper?"

Charlotte's forehead creased. She looked behind her through the leaves.

"Okay, Henry. There's no one there, but we should be care-"

Henry cut Charlotte off by diving out of the bush, dragging her with him.

"-ful." Charlotte let go and they both found Piper and Nurse Cohort. They were getting closer… and closer… and….

 _Hold up._ Henry squinted and realized that Nurse Cohort has her face buried in her phone. Piper happened to glance towards Nurse Cohort and saw her. She scooted away a bit upon realizing who the woman was.

Henry and Charlotte breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief before jogging towards Piper.

"Piper, what are you doing here?" Henry was trying really hard to control his voice and tone, given he was still recovering from watching his little sister and a villain get so close to each other.

Piper bit her lip and went, "Ummmmmmmm IIIIII…." She silently cursed herself for not coming up with an excuse before hand. That's when, all of a sudden, she found one. "I saw Nurse Cohort come here and followed her, because I was afraid she was up to something. What are _you_ doing here?"

Henry frowned at her and ignored the question. "Pipes, you shouldn't have done that. She may not necessarily been up to something bad. You shouldn't spy on people."

Behind him, Charlotte was trying not to laugh at the irony.

Piper was trying to figure out what to say when Henry said, "Piper, go home. And next time," he added pointedly, "don't stalk a villain who knows who you are. That's kinda… how do I put this, stupid."

Piper could feel her cheeks getting warm with embarrassment, even though she didn't actually follow Nurse Cohort around. ( _I have_ got _to come up with excuses beforehand next time_ , she thought.)

Actually, she hadn't even seen the villain until a minute before she saw her brother. Piper had arrived at the park and, having no better idea, just wondered around, looking for Henry and/or Kid Danger. It was a pure coincidence that she ended up where she did.

Even so, she mumbled an "okay" and left.

Kind of.

Instead of leaving the park like Henry told her too, Piper walked for a minute before hiding behind a tree and watching her brother and Charlotte. They were talking, but she couldn't hear what they were saying. She watched them leave and they seemed to disappear.

Piper considered following them, but she knew she might get caught again. She hadn't even seen Henry nor Charlotte until they were right in front of her face, like they had been hiding or something.

 _Wait._ Piper though for a minute. They would have to have been close by, and it's weird that she didn't see them. _If I'm correct, that Kind Danger is my brother- gag- then maybe he was spying on Nurse Cohort._

 _But wait, Charlotte was with him. Although, now that I think about it, maybe Charlotte knows. Could she? I mean, she's mega smart, and…_

The more Piper thought about it, the more it made sense. She recalled the time she had a tanning salon in her house, and the conversation they had. Charlotte had seemed so worried about Jasper knowing Henry's secret…

 _I asked her what other secrets Henry had._ And _Charlotte has a job at Junk N' Stuff. So does Jasper, although I can't understand why Captain Man would hire a quarter-wit like him._

Besides that last part, Piper was more sure now of what she was investigating.

* * *

After Piper "left" the park, Henry turned to Charlotte. "That was way too close. It's a good thing Cohort didn't see her."

Charlotte nodded. "Yeah… but something's nagging at me. I'm just not sure what it is."

"Yeah." The both tried to figure it out for a minute, but came up with nothing.

"Crap, we should find her." Charlotte said suddenly.

"Piper? Why?"

"Nurse Cohort, Henry."

"Oh. OH. You're right, let's, go."

It was at that point they seemed to disappear to Piper, but not because they left, but because Ray called Henry and they ducked back into a bush- a smaller one this time.

"Henry, I just spotted- what the, why are you and Charlotte all… smushed together?" Ray could see about half of each teenager's face, and they were literally touching.

"There's not enough room in this bush. You spotted what?"

"Oh! I spotted Nurse Cohort, why'd you let her out of your sight?!"

"Uh… that's a long story. Explain later, where are you?"

Ray gave him there location, which was a few minutes across the park. "Hurry." Ray hung up. The two teens climbed out of the bush, glad there was no one around. (Well, Piper was still behind her tree, but she was thinking at this point.)

"One problem," Henry said, frowning. "We can't 'hurry' unless we run, and that might look weird."

"Henry, there's a jogging trail." Charlotte pointed toward it. "We can use that."

A few minutes and one water fountain break later, the found Ray and Schwoz behind a small group of trees. Ray held a finger to his lips and motioned for them to come.

Henry and Charlotte crept over and peered through the lower branches. Sure enough, both Nurse Cohort and Dr. Minyak were there, talking.

"... still can't figure it out." Minyak rested his head on is hand. "It works on your filthy laundry but not anything else. Why?"

Henry and Charlotte exchanged a look, sharing the same thought: _He must be talking about the stuff Nurse Cohort was using earlier._

"I don't know. Perhaps it only works on food stains."

"Perhaps, though I doubt it. Very unlikely. Did any get on your skin?"

"No, I made sure of it. I don't want to know what that stuff could do to a human."

Minyak pondered what she said for a moment. Then (shudder), he smiled. "A human," he repeated. "That gives me an idea. But we shan't talk about it here. Let's go." They turned around and started walking… _right towards us?_

 _Oh_ shoot _._

Henry and the gang froze, but the evil pair walked right passed them. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"That," said Ray after a moment, "was way too close."

"No kidding," Charlotte added, waiting for her heart rate to go back down to normal.

Henry looked back in the general direction the villains had walked in. "I think we lost 'em, guys."

"Dang," said Ray. (Something like that, anyway.) "Now what?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't know."

Schwoz spoke up. "Maybe… maybe we could go back to the Man Cave and try tracking them down again."

"Starting back at square one. Yay." Ray leaned back against a tree.

"Not necessarily," said Charlotte. "I mean, we know that they seem to be working together, so there's some assurance."

"Charlotte's right," added Henry. "And that stuff they were talking about- we saw Nurse Cohort use it earlier. Her clothes were _covered_ in food stains, and she put a drop of some liquid on them, and, boom, clean clothes."

Ray nodded. "So we know what they're talking about." He frowned. "But we don't know much else. Maybe," he snapped his fingers, "we could go back to the Man Cave and try tracking them down again."

"That's what I said!"

"Hmm? What? Sorry, Schwoz, didn't hear you."

Henry and Charlotte rolled their eyes.

No sooner had Ray started walking towards the parking lot (they could see the old van form there) when an automatic sprinkler came on at full blast.

The other three burst into laughter. Schwoz kept going, "Karma! Karma!" right in a drenched Ray's face. He glared at them, and stomped towards the van.

 **As of posting this chapter, I have less than 48 hours before summer vacation has officially ended. As much as I'm looking forward to my performance electives, I'm less than thrilled about less Fanfiction and more math.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I forgot about this: there are going to be spoilers for past Henry Danger episodes in this story, and I may or may not make references to new ones when they come out next month.**

Piper _did_ leave the park after a few minutes, shortly before Henry and the others did. While she did spend most of the ride fuming, her mind was buzzing with a new plan:

If Henry really was Kid Danger, then obviously they couldn't be in the same place at the same time… if that makes sense. Anyway, her idea was to find days when Kid Danger (oh, and Captain Man. Him too) did something and see where Henry was. Simple, right?

Actually, yeah, but she would have to do a bit of digging.

This job was made easier by the fact that she keeps a complete record of everything the super pair had done. When Piper arrived back at her house, she ran to her room and retrieved the binder she bought just for that purpose.

Armed with that, her laptop, a pad of paper, a pencil and some juice, Piper sat down on the couch and opened her binder to the last entry.

Not much was written there, it having been pretty recent, but that was the day that Captain Man and Kid Danger had to rescue an old lady from being pushed down a mountain. Piper hadn't gotten everything written down yet, but she remembered that Henry had been at work that day.

 _Wait._ Piper realized something: that was the day of her prom. (Well, technically, the school only _called_ it that, it wasn't really a prom.) But it got canceled because some water pipes burst and flooded the place. Piper, who had been having a crisis with two dates and a ruined "prom" dress, was relieved that she had some time to fix it.

But anyway, that's not the point.

The point is that Charlotte and Jasper were both at Junk N' Stuff that day, and they were wearing really, really weird outfits. Piper had brushed it off at the time, too concerned with her own problems. But now, it was kind of weirding her out.

Piper wrote down _old lady down a mountain, Henry at work (supposedly)_ and went back a few pages in her binder.

The next event was similar, at least for Piper. That was the day Captain Man and Kid Danger were busy dealing with the toddler in the Man Cave. Piper had gone to Junk N' Stuff to make Henry fix her phone- it took over forty five minutes for him to come up.

Piper flipped through everything she had written down, as well as news clippings she had glued in. It fit.

She wrote on the paper some more.

Eventually, Piper gave up on writing things down and just flipped through the binder. From the Jandy Bridge incident to the more recent thing with Heather and the diamonds, Piper just couldn't find a time where she was with Henry while Kid Danger was around.

She sighed and closed the binder. _God, that was a lot of work._

At least she knew one thing: in every incident, she was pretty sure that Henry wasn't around at the time.

One thing confused her, though: the whole "green truck" incident. She didn't like recalling hitting said truck, but she hadn't actually _seen_ Henry once, even though she talked to him and was supposed to give her his house key.

Piper didn't know the whole story, obviously, but at any rate she was starting to get even more suspicious.

Still, though, she couldn't come up with any real proof.

Piper sighed and rubbed her eyes.

 _This,_ she thought, _is going to be so much work._

* * *

Meanwhile, Henry and Charlotte were unsuccessfully trying to track down Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort. Schwoz was showing Ray a new weapon he was working on downstairs. Jasper was dealing with a particularly difficult customer in the store.

Actually, the difficult customer was the main reason why they hadn't found the pair of villains yet. Henry and Charlotte had gotten distracted watching all the drama with a bucket of popcorn.

 _"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we do not seek real human heads here."_

 _"But my niece says she bought a boy's head for her daughter here once!"_

 _"That head was FAKE, ma'am, it did not actually come from a human boy."_

The lady started spitting out some very bad words. Jasper glanced up at one of the cameras, clearly begging for help.

"You think one of us should help him?" Charlotte tore her eyes away from the screen long enough to glance at Henry.

"Yeah, you can go help him."

"Me?!"

Henry shrugged. "Well, yeah."

The got into a silly little argument. In the end, after flipping a coin three times, Charlotte was the one to go upstairs.

Henry, looking forward to watching the drama unfold, got more popcorn and was just sitting back down when Ray and Schwoz came up the tubes.

"Hey, Henry! Look at what Schwoz ma- wait, what are you watching?"

"A lady up in Junk N' Stuff is giving Jasper a hard time, and Charlotte just went up to help him. Wanna watch?"

Ray and Schwoz took some popcorn out of the bucket ("Too much butter," Ray whined) and watched Charlotte attempt to help calm down the customer.

 _"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but we do not sell real human heads here."_

The lady launched her argument again. Charlotte looked over at the security camera like Jasper had earlier, only she was glaring at Henry. He and the others laughed.

The lady started whining again. _"If you don't sell me what I want, I will tell! I… I will called Captain Man and Kid Danger on you!"_

THAT made everyone down in the Man Cave real quiet. Then they all looked at each other and started laughing again.

In fact, they were laughing so hard and loudly that they almost didn't hear the emergency alarm go off.

Without turning on their camera, Ray answered. "Captain Man and Kid Danger" was all he could manage before snorting uncontrollably. Henry took as deep a breath as he could before spitting out, "what is your emergency."

The angry customer appeared on screen, and they could see her face more clearly now; it was covered in so much makeup she looked like Mulan, and also a bit like the Matchmaker because it was so smudged.

The lady immediately started whining. "These-" she called Charlotte and Jasper a very bad word that made everyone stop laughing "- in a junk shop refuse to sell me the item that I want!"

Pretending he didn't know, Henry asked, "What is it you're looking for, ma'am?" He covered his mouth in attempt to keep from laughing again, very glad they couldn't be seen by the customer.

"My niece said she bought a head here, and they say they have no real heads! Only imitation knockoffs."

Ray, though more emerging laughter, said, "Ma'am, this would not qualify as an emergency unless they had real heads for sale. Please-"

Before Ray could continue, the lady threw down her phone and stomped out of the store. Having seen it happen on another screen, Henry hung up and they watched her stomp back in for it and leave again.

Charlotte came back down to see Henry literally rolling on the floor laughing. Ray was leaning on the table, and Schwoz was sitting on the couch, laughing their butts off like there was no tomorrow.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and stomped back to her chair. "You wouldn't be laughing if _you_ had to deal with her."

Henry managed to get up and stand next to her. "Come on, Char, if you were down here you'd be laughing, too."

He stared her down until she smiled. "I guess you're right."

Henry smiled. "Of course I'm right." Charlotte playfully smacked him and they actually started working.

 **So I just started school again... whoa.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	7. Chapter 7

Not that they got much work done.

Ray and Schwoz were recovering from their laughter right when a call came in. Charlotte answered it (it was only audio, so no camera worries this time) as they walked up, and a frantic female sounding voice started speaking very quickly in what sounded like Spanish. There was a pause.

Ray frowned. "I can't understand what she's saying."

"I got this." Henry took a step closer to the monitors. "¿Línea de emergencia de Captain Man y Kid Danger, que es su emergencia?"

Henry and the caller spoke a little bit. He ended the call with "Nosotros estamos en nuestro camino" and turned to his friends.

"We're needed at a house a few miles from here, let's go."

"Right."

Ray and Henry popped a gumball. Nodding to each other, they both blew a bubble and transformed. Once they were in uniform, the two superheroes sped off, leaving Charlotte and Schwoz to help from the Man Cave.

* * *

"Okay, it's the next house on your right. No, your _right_!"

Charlotte was giving directions to Captain Man and Kid Danger, Schwoz having pinpointed their location and the address of the house. "Yeah, that one."

As they pulled up in the Man Van, the woman who called came running and starting talking in Spanish.

Kid Danger spoke with her, and, looking annoyed, motioned Captain Man follow her inside.

"What is it?" Captain Man asked as they went inside.

"She said that a man broke in and is demanding all the food they have, and, from her description, he sounds exactly like-"

"I WANT CHIPS!"

The pair of superheroes looked at each other and groaned. "Jeff."

The woman showed them to the basement, where Jeff was arguing with another pair of adults. "I SAID, GIMME CHIPS!"

"We don't have any chips!" One of the men exclaimed in Spanish.

Kid Danger quietly assured the woman that there wasn't much to worry about before he and Captain Man walked down the steps.

"Hey, Jeff!" Captain Man didn't sound tough so much as annoyed. "What are you doing?"

Jeff, looking angry, said, "I'm hungry and these people are refusing to feed me!"

"We don't even know who you are!" The second man exclaimed, once again, in Spanish.

"Stop talking in gibberish and feed me!" Jeff took a threatening step towards the men, but Captain Man grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the house.

Stupid Jeff.

Kid Danger called the cops so they could haul Jeff away and reassured the people that Jeff would be taken care of before leaving the house. He went on ahead and mentioned that he was just a petty criminal and was generally nothing to worry about. The police showed up a couple minutes later, along with a news van. Kid Danger groaned. He wasn't a huge fan of being on the news, partly because he was always paranoid someone might recognize him.

Captain Man, having spotted the cop cars and news van as well, asked Kid Danger to watch Jeff while he spoke with the crew. Kid Danger was positive he would start flirting with the lady- it wasn't Evelyn Hall this time- but instead he gave them a brief report and that they were in a rush to get somewhere. Kid Danger nudged Jeff towards his boss, who handed him over to the cops.

On the way back to the Man Cave, Kid Danger asked Captain Man why he didn't want to be on TV, and his response was, "Didn't feel like it." Kid Danger had a feeling that Captain Man was lying, but didn't saying anything.

He also texted Charlotte and Jasper to let them know what happened. He could practically hear them laughing.

* * *

"Shoot, I missed it!" Piper turned off the TV and opened her computer.

One of the Man Fans texted her that Captain Man and Kid Danger were doing something, but she missed the news report and was just going to have to look it up.

Apparently, Jeff, the World's Worst Villain as he had been dubbed by the cops, had broken into a house and demanded food from a couple who had company over. There wasn't much else, besides the fact that Captain Man told the fuzz that "This was the easiest mission since… forever." before handing Jeff over to them.

Piper made a note in her binder (which reminded her not to forget it at the next Man Fans Meeting) and closed it.

Then she opened it again. _Am I crazy?_ Most people would say yes (but they'd be too scared to say it to her face), but Piper was having doubts about her whole plan right then.

Piper sighed and looked over st the clock. There were still a few hours before she could expect Henry to come home. Even so, he liked to stay with his friends as late as he could.

Piper sighed again. _This,_ she thought, _is going to be a long few hours._

* * *

Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort tiptoed around the stone walls, whispering to each other.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Nurse Cohort seemed greatly concerned about the situation, and not because they had just stepped in a mud puddle that may have had a few ants in it.

"Of course," whispered Dr. Minyak.

The two of them were disguised as janitors. They were both wearing grey jumpsuits and boots. Nurse Cohort has also parted her hair so some of her face was covered. They were attempting to break into Henry's school.

Before you panic, they didn't know he was Kid Danger, or anything like that. They just wanted to steal some microscopes and other supplies from the science classrooms; they were on a tight budget, so they weren't going to just _buy_ new supplies.

It made sense to them.

"Are you _sure_ there's no one here?" Nurse Cohort hesitated before handing a brick-cutting laser to Minyak. The laser was designed to flip open like a giant pocket knife; it had the same structure, pointy end and all.

"Of course." He took said laser and started drawing a circle in the wall. "Who in their right mind would be at a school on a Saturday?"

* * *

A few classrooms down, almost a dozen students were serving Saturday school. Mitch Bilsky was among them, drawing some really questionable pictures in the desk. On his right, a dead ringer for Clove from _The Hunger Games_ (minus the knives) was watching, occasionally making comments about his artistic ability.

"Whatever, Dya" was his standard response.

There were several other students doing their own thing; Andy, a tall kid who was held back a year was Snapchatting; Cameron, who was whining loudly about being at school on a Saturday; and Alisha, who was painting her nails, to name a few.

Ms. Shapen has been left in charge of watching the eleven students, but her need for coffee felt more important. She was in the teacher's lounge, making some when Mitch heard a small noise.

He looked up from his drawings and turned to Dya. "Did you hear something?"

Dya shrugged, twirling her long hair around her finger. "I didn't hear anything." Mitch shrugged and was returning to his drawing when there was another sound.

But this one was much clearer and made every head in the room swerve.

"Okay, that one I heard." Dya briefly stopped twisting her hair and stared at the wall with the rest of the class.

There was a bit of chatter among the group. A few minutes later (at this point in time, Ms. Shapen had fallen asleep in the teacher's lounge without hearing anything- she's a really deep sleeper), Mitch poked his head out, followed by Andy, who felt the need to capture everything on Snapchat.

More students, including Dya, crowded around the door. After a moment of silence, they could hear voices… and it sounded like one- a male- was saying "This way." And then there were footsteps… which got closer… and they could see two shadows, one of which was holding a laser that strongly resemble something no kid wants to see in school.

The footsteps got closer. In a panic, all the students practically flew back into the classroom and locked the door.

After a few swear words were uttered, Dya pulled out her phone. "I'm calling Captain Man and Kid Danger."

* * *

 **So this was me being really nervous because I was pretty sure I was gonna have a hard time with my Spanish class this year (although right now I think I'll be fine).**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	8. Chapter 8

Henry and Ray had no idea that Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort were breaking into a school, nor the reason why, so naturally the call they received sent them into a complete panic.

"Captain Man and Kid Danger emergency hotline."

"What is your emergency?"

The call was only audio, so they couldn't see Dya, but they certainly heard her frantic voice. Henry had to ask her to slow down twice before they could understand what she was saying.

"Okay, Dya, listen closely," said Ray once she had told them what was happening. (Well, what the students thought were happening, anyway.) "Well be there in a few minutes, we know the address of the school. I'm gonna hang up the phone, and when I do, call 9-1-1 and tell them exactly what you just told me, and that Captain Man and Kid Danger are coming. Stay where you are, and stay quiet so they don't find you." Ray hit the button to end the call. Nodding to Henry, they both transformed and ran to the tubes.

* * *

Meanwhile, Piper had heard about what was happening. One of the students in Saturday school was the older brother of a Man Fan, so naturally the news spread like wildfire.

But Piper had something different on her mind: Captain Man and Kid Danger.

She knew that driving down to the school would be incredibly stupid, though, so she parked a block away and waited.

Sure enough, she spotted the Man Van speeding down the street, followed by some cop cars, a fire truck and an ambulance.

Piper opened her phone to Snapchat. Since Andy still felt the need to video everything, he kept updating.

Not that much was happening.

Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort had, after several wrong turns, found a science classroom and were in the process of stealing supplies. The classroom with the students was still absolutely silent, with the exception of a 9-1-1 operator talking to Dya. Ms. Shapen was still asleep.

The Man Van was coming into the parking lot, followed by the emergency vehicles. The sirens scared the heck out of Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort.

"Sirens?!" Minyak exclaimed. "All we're doing is stealing school supplies!"

"Well, you _did_ make a giant hole in the wall back there," Nurse Cohort pointed out.

Dr. Minyak knew she had a point, but didn't say so. "Whatever, throw some more stuff into the sack and let's go!"

They proceeded to hastily fill their giant sack with more supplies and bolted.

Captain Man and Kid Danger reaches the spot where the hole had been made. Kid Danger started the climb through it, but Captain Man put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kid, are you sure you're up to this?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

Captain Man glanced behind them to make sure no one was within earshot. "Henry," he said in a low voice. "Dya said they have a _knife_."

"Ray, I can handle it. Come on, we're wasting time!"

Captain Man opened his mouth to protest, but he knew his sidekick was right. They climbed through the hole and followed the muddy footsteps until they were completely gone, and just ran around the school from there.

Eventually, they managed to catch Nurse Cohort near the gym. Captain Man went to find Minyak while Kid Danger stayed behind with some cops to interrogate her.

"Why should I tell you?" Nurse Cohort sneered. "Give me one good reason."

Kid Danger thought for a minute. "I'll let you talk to Captain Man later."

Apparently, that was the right thing to say because she immediately told him what had happened.

"... and then we heard sirens and ran for it. He told me it would be better if we split up."

"Why?"

"I dunno, maybe-" Nurse Cohort cut herself off as an unpleasant thought occurred to her.

"You think he decided to leave you behind?" Kid Danger suggested. Nurse Cohort frowned. She looked a bit like a little kid about to throw a temper tantrum.

After some awkward silence, the cops took Nurse Cohort away and left Kid Danger to go find his boss. He decided, though, to find the kids first.

Although ideally they would be outside, getting the heck away, they were still in the classroom. Some cops were in there, too, talking to a half-asleep Ms. Shapen (Kid Danger mentally groaned and rolled his eyes) while a couple others were talking to the students. He couldn't help but notice Mitch eying Alisha's bottle of nail polish, but dismissed it.

After talking to a couple cops, he left the room to find his boss. Or, more accurately, would have if Captain Man himself hadn't walked in at that exact moment and literally run into him.

The room burst into laughter, but Kid Danger ignored it and instead asked, "Did you find him?"

Captain Man shook his head. "No, it looks like Minyak got away this time. Did you get any info outta Nurse Cohort?"

Kid Danger nodded. "Yeah, told us everything. Also," he lowered his voice, "She seems to think Minyak left her in the dust."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

At that moment (amazing it hadn't happened sooner), the Saturday school kids ditched the cops to talk to Captain Man and Kid Danger; Andy, in particular, seemed keen on getting a selfie with the superhero and sidekick.

He kind of did succeed; a block away, Piper saw his latest update; it was him grinning at the camera, and you could kinda sorta see Captain Man and Kid Danger were in the background.

There were several other posts about how everything was okay, so Piper decided to drive down to the school.

But as she approached, the numerous emergency vehicles were blocking the way, so she parked again and walked; no one paid very much attention to her, so she didn't have to bother hiding from anyone… yet.

Piper spotted the giant hole in the wall where Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort climbed into this school; she moved on and found an open door that was close to the classroom.

 _Then_ she started being careful about being seen; she didn't want Henry to scold her for doing something stupid twice in one day. (Assuming, of course, that Henry was actually Kid Danger.) Peeking from the door, she watched and waited.

She wasn't exactly sure what she was waiting for, but something did happen. Mitch had decided it would be fun to pour Alisha's bottle of nail polish on her head ("MY HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIR!") and a first fight broke out; Mitch had forty or fifty pounds on Alisha, but she was fast and managed to jump on him before the cops and Captain Man were pulling them apart.

Kid Danger (who knew fist fights were the reason those two were here in the first place) didn't go help- they had it under control. Instead, he took a few steps back.

Piper, who had been watching the fight instead of her brother, didn't see him back in up until he almost ran into her. She gasped and jumped back.

Hearing the gasp and the sound of feet hitting the floor, Kid Danger tensued up and looked behind him; Piper had managed to duck behind a wall just in time, so he didn't see her. Feeling mildly creeped out, Kid Danger turned back into the classroom.

Piper knew running would look weird, but she couldn't help a slow jog back to her car. Henry (assuming, once again, that she was right about him) had almost seen her, which would have made him suspicious.

 _That,_ thought Piper as she drove home, _was way to close. And now he's probably suspicious of_ something _, at least._

Piper wasn't sure what to do at this point besides head for home. The only thing she could think of as far as staying positive was _Well, I've only been at this for a day. Not even, really. I mean, mysteries usually take a bit longer than that. Maybe tomorrow, on Sunday, I'll get something more…_

Piper decided that, for the time being, she was just going to have to stop following Henry places and come up with her own plan- preferably one that _didn't_ involve being around villains or sneaking onto a crime scene.

* * *

 **Well, I've finally managed to figure out how to keep this thing from glitching while I edit the italics. Yay!**

 **PicassoPenguin: Yay, you're back! Thank you so much, for letting me know, but when I went through I couldn't find them (although I did find a couple from other chapters), were they in chapter three, and if they were could you tell me where? Thanks, I really appreciate it. :)**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**

 **P.S., I hid a forth wall joke in there- did anyone catch it?**


	9. Chapter 9

It took a few minutes, but the cops managed to send all the students home _before_ a news van showed up. Captain Man peered out the window and frowned.

"C'mon, Kid. Let's go."

Kid Danger was dying to ask why Captain Man didn't want to talk to the news people all of a sudden, but he knew that telling his boss about the noise he heard was more important. He started talking once they were in the Man Van.

"... but when I looked behind me no one was there. It was kind of creepy."

Captain Man shrugged but didn't look away from the road. "Yeah. But maybe you just imagined it. Or it could've been a ghost."

"A _ghost_? Seriously?"

"Hey, you never know. A ghost followed me into my middle school bathroom once." Ray lied, mostly just trying to scare Henry a little.

"Ray, you didn't go to middle school."

"I know, I was just trying to scare you."

"Gee, thanks."

They talked about ghost stories for a few minutes. Ray finally parked the Man Van into it's secret hiding spot so they could go down the tubes.

"Hey, Ray?" Kid Danger looked at his boss as they walked to the dumpster that the tubes were behind. "How come you don't want to talk to the news anymore?"

To say Captain Man looked _startled_ would be a massive understatement. He looked… a tad panicked, actually. "No reason. Just don't," he said quickly. _Way_ too quickly.

Kid Danger gave him a look and crossed his arms. "Yeah, I don't believe that for one second." He lowered his voice. "Ray, is there something going on?"

Captain Man hesitated. "You promise not to say anything?"

Kid Danger nodded, suddenly extra curious. "Yeah, sure thing dude."

Captain Man sighed a little and sat down cross-legged on the ground. His sidekick sat across from him. "So you've heard me mention my dad a couple of times, right?"

Kid Danger nodded.

"Well, did it ever occur to you that I never mentioned my mom?"

Kid Danger shook his head. "No, actually, I never did think of that."

Captain Man nodded. "Well, there's a reason for that. She… well, she left me and Dad when I was really little, long before I became indestructible. I overheard Dad talking to one of my aunts, saying she had a new husband and a new kid- a baby girl. A few years ago," Captain Man paused to take a big breath, "I was on Facebook, and somehow or another stumbled across her name. Recognized her from an old family photo I stole from Dad. That lady who was doing news instead of Evelyn Hall, she's my half sister." He twisted his hands together. "I don't know if she knew about me, but even Mom didn't know about me being indestructible, let alone Captain Man. But I really, really didn't want to talk to her. I mean, I know it's not her fault, but still. And get this," Captain Man finally looked Kid Danger in the eyes, "she named her daughter Rey, with an e."

Kid Danger wasn't sure what to say to that, but his boss just kept talking. "I'll confess, sometimes when we're fighting I imagine my mom's face on the criminals, or a punching bag or whatever."

Kid Danger still wasn't sure what to say, but he finally went with, "Sorry to hear that."

Captain Man shrugged and smiled a little. "Eh, it's okay. It makes me feel better knowing that I'm over here saving people's lives."

Kid Danger laughed, and they finally got up and shot down the tubes.

* * *

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. Henry told Charlotte and Jasper what had happened, leaving out Ray's story about his mom and half sister. They tried tracking down Minyak, but couldn't find him and was just going to have to rely on the computer for awhile.

Eventually, with the emergency alarm remaining quiet, everyone sat down and played some games; Uno, Monopoly, Pictionary, that stuff. They were in the middle of Charades (Ray was acting like a ballerina) when Charlotte realized that it was an hour past the time they usually left, not to mention dark outside.

Normally they would just walk, but Ray was really nervous about it since Dr. Minyak was still on the loose. He wanted to drive them home himself, but there were a few little problems: they couldn't take the Man Van without raising suspicion, Ray had dropped off his other van to be cleaned, Schwoz sold one of his cars, his RV is in the shop and he lent his other car to a friend.

So basically, they had no means of transportation from the Man Cave.

"Hey, Henry, can't your sister drive?" Ray asked when they thought they were out of options.

"Oh, right, I forgot. I'll call her."

Charlotte groaned. "I don't like driving with Piper."

"Me neither," added Jasper.

"Would you two rather just sleep here?" Ray asked.

They answered at the same time: "Yes."

Ray rolled his eyes. Henry laughed and pulled out his phone to call Piper. "C'mon, guys, she's actually pretty good.

Piper was watching _French Basement_ at her house (their parents weren't home yet, they were both still at work) when Henry's call came in, so naturally she was a bit grumpy with him.

"What?"

"Hi, Piper. Listen, could you come give me and Charlotte and ride home?"

"What about me?!"

"Shh, Jasper, if I mention you she might say no."

"Oh."

"Yeah, fine," said Piper, pretending she hadn't heard the exchange. "I'll be there in a little bit." She hung up the phone and turned off the TV.

Piper spent the whole drive there (so a few minutes) trying to figure out how to discreetly grill Henry about his day, but hadn't come up with anything by the time she reached Junk N' Stuff.

Henry climbed into the front seat (Jasper and Charlotte having called dibs not) as his friends climbed into the back. Piper put the car in reverse and started for Jasper's house, which would come first.

"Soooooooooooo," said Piper slowly, doing her best to make it sound unawkward, "how was work today?"

Charlotte exchanged a little with Henry via the rearview mirror, then with Jasper. This wasn't exactly usual behavior for Piper.

"Uh… fine," said Charlotte after a minute. "How was your day?"

Obviously, Piper didn't plan on telling them how she spent her day. "Er, it was okay. Same old Saturday."

In a flash, all four of them remembered Piper coming to Junk N' Stuff that morning _and_ following Nurse Cohort around (supposedly), but no one wanted to bite the bullet and make things weirder than they already were by mentioning it.

They were nearing Jasper's house in total silence when Piper suddenly slowed the car down to a halt. The three others looked at her.

"Why'd you stop?" Jasper asked after a moment. Normally, Piper would respond with some sort of snap or insult, but all she could focus on right then was what she was seeing.

"Piper?"

She shushed her brother and pointed out the now open window of the car; far off, in the distance, a tall, lean figure with a giant sack speed-walking in another direction.

* * *

 **PicassoPenguin: Okay, I found it! Thanks. :)**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

The figure either didn't have a face or it was too dark to see it, but all four people were positive that it was Dr. Minyak. Henry turned around and mouthed _Text Ray_ to Charlotte; he knew that calling him wasn't an option, or Piper would hear- he still didn't know she was suspicious of him.

Charlotte nodded in agreement and pulled out her phone. Jasper watched her type (Piper was still staring out the window).

Charlotte knew now wasn't the best time to make sure every little word and punctuation mark was grammatically correct, but it was force of habit that made the message take so long to type. That, and she was afraid that Ray would be suspicious and wouldn't get here on time.

Piper finally looked at her companions right after Charlotte put her phone away. "Uh… should we call Captain Man or something?"

The three others exchanged a look. They hadn't thought of just calling him as normal citizens. "Sure," said Charlotte, pulling out her phone again. "That's a good idea."

Charlotte called on audio without the camera so Ray wouldn't see her (because, well, Piper) and tried not to give anything away.

"Captain Man and Kid Danger emergency hotline, what is your emergency?"

Anyone else might not have noticed, but Ray sounded just a teensy bit annoyed, probably because his sidekick just left and he would have to call him.

"Captain Man?" Charlotte tried to keep her voice down so Ray wouldn't talk too loudly. "Hi, um, my friends and I are out driving and we see a person with a sack, and-"

"Wait, who is this? Where are you?"

Standard questions."Um, my name is Charlotte. Charlotte Page."

"Charlotte? What's going on? Are you all okay?"

"Yes, we're all fine-" Charlotte glanced up and saw that everyone was watching her, including Piper. "-and we're in a car." _Please, please figure it out, Ray._

"Oh, I get it. Are you on speaker?"

"No."

"Good. So Piper is there too, right?"

"Yes."

"Anyone else? Are Henry and Jasper still there?"

"Yes."

"Aw, geez… okay, listen. I can't call Henry without Piper noticing, so I'm going to take this on my own. Tell him- _discreetly_ \- to just wait at home for news."

"Okay."

"Now go home, or, actually, go to Henry's house. I'll feel better knowing both of you are in the same place. And Jasper too, I guess. Where are you?"

Charlotte gave the street names on the sign they were next to. "Alright, we'll head out. Good luck," she added under her breath. She hung up and turned to Piper.

"Piper, Captain Man said to drive away, so let's just all go to Henry's house and wait for this to blow over."

"Okay." Piper surprised everyone by agreeing right away, but no one said anything.

* * *

A few minutes later, Henry, Charlotte and Jasper were sitting at the Hart kitchen table with some soda. Henry's parents were still out, and Piper had retreated to her room to go to bed.

That's what she told them, anyway. She was actually at the top of the stairs, struggling to hear everything her brother and his friends were saying.

"Why hadn't he called back yet?" Henry ran his hand through his hair nervously.

"I don't know." Charlotte used her straw to stir her soda, resting her head on her hand.

Jasper shrugged. "I don't know. But at least we know he's okay."

Charlotte stopped stirring. "How do you know that?"

"Well, he's indestructible, isn't he?"

"True," said Henry, "but there is such thing as _emotional_ distress. And what if he got captured?"

The three teens didn't have much time to think about it, because Henry's phone started buzzing.

"It's Ray!" He lunged for it and answered, putting it on speaker.

"Ray?"

"Are you alright?!"

"What happened?"

"Slow down!" Ray cut their questions off. "Everything's okay, but I need to talk to you three. Henry, is your family home?"

"My parents are out, and Piper's asleep."

"Good, because I'm on your front porch."

"What?" All three teenage heads whipped around to the front door. Sure enough, Ray was standing there, his phone pressed to his ear.

They all ran to answer it, but Henry got there first (for obvious reasons) and unlocked the door before flinging it open.

The three teens immediately bombarded Ray with questions, but he told them to sit down and he'd explain.

The four of them settled on the couch, and Ray started talking.

"So I get to the place, and sure enough, I see someone with a sack. So I chase after him- I really wished you had been there, Henry, you could've caught him so much faster- and I finally reach the guy, and get this, he's not Minyak at all." Henry, Charlotte and Jasper opened their mouths again, but Ray cut them off. "Save the questions until the end. Anyway, I cuff the guy to a thick tree branch, and I ask what the butt he's doing, and he's like, 'Uhhhhhh I was practicing to be Santa Claus for the holidays,' which I didn't believe for a second, even when he threatened to put me on the naughty list. Anyway, I demand that he tell me the truth, making sure my later was visible, and, well, the guy sang like a canary and handed me his bag."

"So it was Minyak's sack, right?" Henry cut it. "He forced the guy to take it, or something?"

Ray shook his head. "No… it turns out the guy barely knew who Dr. Minyak is. He told me that his dad was the boss in a secret business that specializes in shoplifting goods, and he made him start helping. Rookie slipped up."

"Then what happened?" Charlotte seemed a bit concerned for the guy.

"I took him down to the police station so he could tell the cops, and when I was leaving they were asking him all sorts of questions- who else was involved, was anyone else being forced to help, stuff. One of the cops said something about keeping the guy in prison so he'd be safe from his dad. There were a lot of… _unpleasant_ things that went on when that guy's dad didn't get what he wanted, apparently.

"So this whole time there's been a secret shoplifting business right under our noses, and we only found out because someone messed up their job. _And_ we still have no idea where Minyak is right now. So, yeah." He slumped back.

"Just out of curiosity," Jasper said after a brief pause, "what was in the sack?"

Ray shrugged. "I didn't see all of it," he confessed, "but the stuff on top was mostly small things, like lipstick. Actually," he sat up, "I think all that may have been collected over a long period of time, because we would have heard about a robbery that big. My theory-" Henry, Charlotte and Jasper leaned in. "-is that they only steal enough at a time that no one will be able to notice something's missing."

Charlotte nodded. "That makes sense."

They stay in silence for a minute before the sound of the garage door opening made them all jump.

"My parents!" Henry grabbed Ray's arm and dragged him toward the front door. "Hurry, let us know when you're back at the Man Cave." Henry locked the door and turned to his friends. "Quick, make it look like we've been doing homework, or something!"

In their haste to fool Mr. and Mrs. Hart, not one of the three of them heard the squeak of a sneaker come from the top of the stairs.

What? You didn't forget Piper was listening to all that, did you?

* * *

 **I'm a big believer in planning ahead, but honestly, some things in this story just got written out of nowhere and expanded.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

Well, the only thing missing was Henry literally saying "I am Kid Danger."

 _There,_ thought Piper as she sat on her bed, _is no_ flipping _way I misinterpreted_ that _._

Piper had fled to her room as her parents came in, so she didn't see her brother and his friends awkwardly lie to their parents about what they've been up too. Mrs. Hart drove Jasper and Charlotte home, and Henry went up to his room. He had told their parents that Piper was already asleep, so no one came up and bugged her.

Piper looked at her phone. It was past midnight; she hadn't been able to sleep, and, let's face it, she was not going to bed without seeing if Henry gave anything else away tonight.

Slowly, Piper climbed out of bed and tiptoed out of her room. Henry's door, for some reason, chose that night to squeak, but it didn't wake him up. Piper sat down, leaning up against the closet door, and waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

It took almost an hour (at this rate, Piper was going to need some coffee to function properly), but Piper finally heard Henry say something. She inched toward him and listened.

"Piper, what are you doing here… you shouldn't have done that. She may not necessarily been up to something bad. You shouldn't spy on people… don't stalk a villain who knows who you are. That's kinda… how do I put this, stupid."

Piper grimaced a little. Henry was dreaming of today, when he caught her in the park. She continued listening as he started saying things she didn't recognize.

"... way too close. It's a good thing Cohort didn't see her… can't 'hurry' unless we run, and that might look weird… think we lost 'em, guys… Charlotte's right, that stuff… Nurse Cohort…."

At that point, Henry kind of smiled a little and lightly laughed in his sleep. Piper decided she had heard enough and left the room.

She turned out her light but didn't fall asleep; she was thinking. She only recognized the first section of the dialogue, but after what she overheard earlier it seemed like enough.

 _Henry is Kid Danger._ Piper was sure of that.

What she wasn't sure about, though, was what to do next. Tell him? Pretend not to know? Tell Captain Man?

Obviously, she didn't know that last one was a horrible idea if she wanted to keep her memories.

Piper told herself to not worry about it until morning (well, once the sun was up, anyway), but that was easier said than done. Basically getting confirmation- almost from the best source- that her brother was a superhero sidekick? Who else would be able to _just fall asleep_?

Piper lay awake for a while, just thinking, until her body finally went into sleep mode.

* * *

"We could try using the Man Copter to go on patrol."

"Maybe. Just don't leave me on the ground again."

"Sorry."

It was the next morning. Charlotte had come over, and now she and Henry were trying to think of ways to catch Dr. Minyak. His parents would have been there, but Mrs. Hart's dad's friend's cousin's dog's neighbor just had a baby, so they rushed off for a visit. The two teens were left alone.

Except for Piper. In spite of not getting much shut-eye the last two nights, Piper still woke up at her usual time and started for downstairs in her pajamas, but stopped to eavesdrop when she heard Henry talking to Charlotte.

Anyway, back to their conversation. "I don't know, Henry." Charlotte slumped over a little bit. "We're running out of ideas, and it's not like we installed a dog tracker on him."

At the top of the stairs, Piper raised her eyebrows. A tracker.

Piper quietly ran to her room. _Of course._ She could try tracking Henry. (No, not with a dog tracker.) There's all kinds of ways to track a phone, and Henry always has his phone on him.

Piper ran up to her room, and, after a brief struggle, managed to figure out how to track Henry's phone- it was almost scary how easy it was.

* * *

Meanwhile, Henry and Charlotte were continuing their conversation downstairs.

"Could we find him the same way we located the Time Jerker?"

"I don't think so, Hen. We found the Time Jerker because he used that large amount of electricity."

"Okay, what about how you tracked him down with the fish flakes?"

"Probably not, because, as far as we know, he hasn't acquired any Jolly Beetles recently."

"Yeah. What about chemicals?"

Charlotte thought about that for a moment. "Maybe. But didn't Nurse Cohort say the whole reason they were robbing the school was so they wouldn't have to pay for stuff?"

Henry nodded. "True."

There was a brief silence, during which Piper came back. She sat at the top of the stairs, peering down at her phone. Sure enough, it had pinpointed Henry's location as "in or near" their house. Piper double checked that the sound was off just as Charlotte spoke up again.

"I don't know, Hen. The best idea I can think of is patrolling in the Man Copter, and that might scare him off. Assuming he actually comes out of his hiding place."

"Wherever that is."

More silence. They probably would have sat there for a solid minute, except forty nine seconds in Jasper appeared, flinging open the door and speed-walking toward his friends.

"Guys, I've got an idea!"

The perked up with interest. "What? What is it?" Charlotte stood up. So did Henry.

"We could use the Man Copter to fly around and find Minyak! And, really, I think I could learn how to fly that thing really easily-"

Henry and Charlotte groaned, sitting down. Upstairs, Piper was rolling her eyes.

"Jasper," said Charlotte in response to his confused look, "we already thought of that, and a helicopter might scare him away."

"Assuming he actually comes out of his hiding place," said Henry, echoing Charlotte. Jasper frowned and stat in an empty chair.

Up the stairs, Piper wondered if she should try tracking Charlotte and Jasper, too, since they were obviously in in this. She decided to add them to her app later.

Because for some reason, she was getting the urge to go downstairs and talk to them.

* * *

 **Okay, I don't know how many of you (if any) actually like reading the author's notes, so I'll try to keep this brief.**

 **The next two weekends are show weekends (theatre geek in the house!), and, if anyone recalls, the last time I had one of those I didn't get the new chapter posted until almost midnight (but technically still Sunday!). This is just to let you know that might happen again, and I will do my best to get the new chapters posted as early on the Sundays as I can. (Also, I think I've figured out where the story is going from here, and I am fairly sure it won't be as long as my last one.) Apologies in advance.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**

 **P.S. I hid an Easter Egg in this chapter! If no one gets it I'll give y'all a hint next week.**

 **P.P.S. I did a really bad job at keeping this brief, didn't I!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Quick warning: The movie _Black Panther_ is mentioned in this chapter.**

Of course, it's been well established that Piper isn't the best at thinking on her feet. She knew she shouldn't take the risk and come up with an excuse first.

But it was too much. She took a few steps back so it would look like she just came out of her room and stomped downstairs as if she was mad about something.

"Jasper, WHAT are you going here?" Piper didn't have any reason to be mean to Jasper right then, but she knew it would look weird if she were nice to him.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "I," he declared, "am hanging out with your brother."

"Don't forget me," mumbled Charlotte under her breath.

"What do you want, Piper?" Henry stood up, making himself taller.

Miraculously, a thought popped into her head. "Well, I just woke up, so, oh, I don't know, _breakfast_?"

"She's got a point," said Charlotte, smiling. Piper smirked at her brother, who nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

Henry sat back down, and there was an awkward silence. Piper, unsure of what else to say, went, "So what are you three up to today?"

Henry and his friends exchanged weirded-out looks. "Nothing much," he finally said.

"What about work?"

"It's Sunday. Junk N' Stuff is closed." That was Charlotte.

"Oh. Well…" Piper swallowed, hoping she wouldn't regret this. "Maybe we could all hang out out today."

Once again, the three teens looked at each other, unable to find reason for Piper's behavior. "Uh, sure," Charlotte said finally. "Why not."

"Cool. Hey, have you guys eaten yet? I know a really good pancake recipe-"

"NO." Henry, Charlotte and Jasper all said at once. Piper had let cooking go, but she still stunk at it. Bad. Like, worse than the food itself.

"Okay then." Piper walked toward the pantry and searched for the Pop-Tart box she knew was in there.

Behind her, the three teens huddled together a little. "What's going on?" Jasper whispered.

"I don't know, but just go with it!" Henry hissed back. "This is weird, and it's creeping me out!"

"Guys, she looking!" Charlotte was the first to lean back, then Henry, who struggled to not use his Hyper Motility, and then Jasper.

Piper walked back to the table and put down her food, then started for the fridge for some milk.

"So," she said when she came back, milk glass in hand. "What do you guys wanna do?"

* * *

It was Charlotte's idea.

Piper put _Black_ _Panther_ on the TV, and, while she was distracted, Henry, Charlotte and Jasper stretched out on the couch- Jasper faced the TV on the cushions closest to the kitchen, and Henry sat next to Charlotte- so Piper would have to sit on the floor, which is something she kind of liked doing anyway. Then they would text each other, with their phones silenced. That way, they could communicate without Piper noticing.

Not that she didn't know what they were doing; she could see their reflections on the black screen before turning the TV on. Henry, Charlotte and Jasper started texting each other as soon as they were sure Piper was distracted.

 _Henry: Jeez, this is weird._

 _Charlotte: I know, but at least I had this wonderful idea. You're welcome, by the way._

 _Jasper: Thz._

 _Jasper: *Thx._

 _Henry: Yeah, thanks, Char._

 _Charlotte: And that's why I'm the brains of the group._

 _Jasper: Gee, Thanks._

 _Charlotte: You're welcome._

 _Henry: Guys, we're getting off topic here. Why do you think Piper is acting like this?_

 _Jasper: I Don't Know, And I'm Really Not Sure I Want To Know._

 _Jasper: Maybe She's Finally Growing Out Of Her Bratty Social Media Phase._

 _Henry: Maybe. Charlotte, what do you think?_

 _Henry: Charlotte?_

 _Jasper: Charlotte?_

Henry nudged Charlotte, whose eyes were fixed on the TV screen. She blinked and looked back down at her phone.

 _Charlotte: Sorry, guys, you know I love this scene._

 _Jasper: Why, Because You Think T'Challa Is Cute?_

 _Charlotte: No, because Shuri is THE best character in this entire movie and you know it._

 _Jasper: Yeah, She's Cool. But I Still Don't Understand That Joke._

 _Henry: That isn't the point! Although Charlotte's right. And I'll explain that to you later, Jasper._

 _Jasper: Thx._

 _Charlotte: And, to answer your question, Henry, I'm starting to get a little concerned. Piper seems to keep popping up. What if she suspects something?_

The conversation temporarily stopped. Henry swallowed.

 _Henry: You really think so? Honestly, I think maybe she wants something. We've kept this secret for so long, I don't thinks she'll ever find out._

How laughable.

 _Jasper: Henry's Right. She'll Totally Act Nice To Get What She Wants. Or Blackmail You._

 _Charlotte: Yeah, that's true. And I know for a fact that Piper loves this movie, so watching it isn't some big loss for her._

 _Jasper: Yeah._

 _Charlotte: Also, we've got other problems. How on earth are we going to catch Minyak?_

 _Henry: *sigh* I don't know, you're the smart one._

 _Jasper: Thank You._

 _Henry: I was talking to Charlotte._

 _Jasper: Oh. Yeah, That Makes More Sense._

 _Charlotte: Getting off topic again here, guys._

 _Henry: What else are we supposed to say? It's not like we can come up with anything._

 _Jasper: He's Got A Point._

 _Charlotte: Yeah, I guess you're right._

 _Henry: Guys, let's just watch the movie. Maybe we'll get some ideas. Or AN idea, at least._

 _Jasper: We'll See._

* * *

Henry, Charlotte and Jasper weren't the only ones who were neglecting to watch the movie. Piper had been thinking the whole time, not of Shuri's awesomeness, but of how to catch her brother in the act.

Eventually, she gave up and just tried to pay attention. (Coincidentally, it was at the same time her brother and his friends had.) They only got a few more minutes into the movie, though, before Henry's watch started beeping.

He gasped and smacked it, but everyone in the room- including Piper- had heard and all turned to him. His eyes went wide.

"Um… sorry 'bout that, I um… this thing is... broken.… I, um, I'll go toss it upstairs…."

Of course, Piper has figured out by now that the watch probably meant something. _Like… like Captain Man summoning him!_

Instead of turning her head, Piper watched the top of the stairs via the paused TV screen; it was dark enough that the reflection was clear in some spots.

She could also see Charlotte and Jasper squirming. Piper bit her lip.

 _This HAS to be true. No way all this is a coincidence. No way. Maybe he's talking to Captain Man._ Piper was thinking about going upstairs "for her phone" (it was in her pocket, in reality) when Henry appeared on the stairs.

"Charlotte, Jasper, we gotta-" Henry stopped short when he realized that his sister was still downstairs. "We gotta… go… to… the… oh, the library! We need to go to the library!"

Piper had to work so hard to not to roll her eyes. _As if, liar._

As she expected, Charlotte and Jasper played along. "Oh, um, right!" Charlotte picked up her and Henry's phones from the couch. Jasper just nodded and got up behind her.

Henry looked at Piper. "Pipes, we'll be back in a bit!" He and his friends ran out of the house, Henry closing the door behind him.

Piper watched them all jump on their bikes (Henry having grabbed his from the garage) and ride off. She pulled her phone out and opened up the tracker app.

 _There is no way,_ she thought, _that I am letting him get away this time._

* * *

 **Alright, since no one guessed the Easter Egg I'll give y'all a hint: it's referencing a Disney show that has already been finished.**

 **Chrystal E. Fall: (Chapter 7.) Thanks for pointing that out! (Chapter 8.) After reading your review I went back to find it... and now I'd can't. Guess I hid it too well. (Chapter 11.) She's trying to get solid proof. Also, thanks!**

 **PicassoPenguin: Thank you!**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

Piper watched Henry's dot on her phone for a second. He was in Swellview Park, on or near the playground.

Piper hadn't wasted any time. As soon as Henry and his friends were gone, she ran upstairs and threw on some clothes- a purple tee with the words _I Don't Care_ in pale blue letters, skinny-ish jeans and sneakers- and then ran to the garage.

Unfortunately, her parents had taken her mom's car and she didn't have the keys to her dad's. Cursing to herself, Piper donned a bike helmet and rode toward the park.

Right now, she was about halfway there. Before leaving, her phone showed Henry's dot about a block from Junk 'N Stuff. Now he was in the park.

 _You're_ _not_ _getting_ _away_ _from_ _me_ _this_ _time, Henry. Not a chance._

* * *

"You're not getting away from me this time, Kid Danger. Not a chance."

Okay, backing up a bit. Henry, Charlotte and Jasper arrived in the Man Cave to find Captain Man loading his belt with little handheld traps, such as the corn dog that shot giant nets. He yelled at Henry to blow a bubble, and they took off. Charlotte stayed behind with Schwoz on the monitors, and Jasper helped a bit.

It turns out Minyak had gathered some of his henchmen and they had broken Nurse Cohort out of prison. They had gotten as far as Swellview Park before Captain Man and Kid Danger showed up.

Minyak henchmen actually turned out to be pretty good fighters. They probably weren't very street smart and had dropped out of school in the seventh grade, but those guys (and girls) knew how to throw a punch.

Anyway, long story short, Captain Man was fighting about nine henchmen at once, while another two had Kid Danger on the ground.

"You're not getting away from me this time Kid Danger. Not a chance."

Okay, everyone's caught up.

Kid Danger glared at the villain and spit on his face. Minyak simply wiped it off.

"So childish. I guess you can't handle words, either, huh?" Dr. Minyak smirked.

"Kid? A little help over here?!"

Kid Danger could barely turn his head far enough to see the fight. "Um, actually I'm the one who could use a little help here, dude."

Dr. Minyak smiled again. "This is what you get for throwing my dear Nurse Cohort in jail."

"I am not _your_ _dear_." Nurse Cohort rolled her eyes. She had put on a black leather jacket over her orange jumpsuit in order to make herself a little less noticeable.

Dr. Minyak pretended her comment didn't sting. "Sure. Maurice," he turned to the beefy guys who was helping hold Kid Danger down, "you and Mary go give Kid Danger a piece of my mind."

* * *

 _I am so going to give him a piece of my mind,_ thought Piper as she stuck her bike in the rack. She was close enough to the playground to hear the fight but far enough away she couldn't see who was where.

Piper jogged for a minute and parked herself behind a tree. This is what she saw: a bunch of people in dark clothing trying to keep down Captain Man (she saw his masked face at some point), and Dr. Minyak talking to Nurse Cohort. But no Henry/Kid Danger.

Somehow, over all the commotion, a little noise caught Piper's ear. It was a twig snapping. Piper slowly creeped in the direction it came from and gasped.

Maurice and Mary had done their job well; Kid Danger was rolled on his side, completely knocked out. His face was swollen and he was definitely going to have a black eye later.

Piper looked around. She could see Maurice and Mary (although she didn't know who exactly they were) jogging toward the group fight in an effort to help. There was a broken stick a few feet away.

Piper looked back at Kid Danger. She looked around her one more time. Then, slowly but surely, she peeled back Kid Danger's mask.

 _My brother is Kid Danger._ Piper knew that. But seeing him like this- beaten and in his suit without the mask- made Piper feel a little nauseous. The ground seemed to shift for a moment and she used it for support.

If it hadn't sunk in before, it sure was now.

Piper suddenly remembered where she was. As gently as she could, she put the mask back on him. He was Kid Danger again.

 _I can't just leave him here._ Piper suddenly felt panicked. No one had spotted her yet, but she felt like she was really pushing her luck.

Adrenaline coursing through her body, Piper jumped up and grabbed her brother's arm, dragging him and propping him up against a large tree. There wasn't much else she could do, but now he was out of sight of the villains.

As Piper stood up (not really knowing why), something caught her eye. A small metal tool was glistening in the sunlight. Piper cautiously picked it up. It looked like a tube.

A dart gun. _Kid Danger or one of the villains must have been holding it._

Piper had an idea. She slowly crept over toward where Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort were standing, watching the fight. Taking a deep breath (and trying not to think about germs), Piper blew a dark out.

She hadn't intended for it to hit Minyak's left butt cheek, but that's where it landed. He cried out in pain, distracting most of his henchmen. Captain Man elbowed someone in what must have been a very sensitive area, because they screamed incredibly loudly and fell to the ground, shrieking in pain.

Half of the henchmen (and Nurse Cohort) we're attempting to carry Minyak away, and he other half were helping the shrieking man or still fighting Captain Man. The superhero threw a few more punches before he was able to run for Kid Danger.

Somehow, he found him immediately. Kid Danger was starting to wake up. Piper, unnoticed by either of them, ducked behind another tree and watched.

"Kid? Kid Danger? Are you okay?" Kid Danger groaned and opened his eyes a little.

"Ughhhhh… what happened?" He rubbed his eye and jerked in pain. Then, without warning, his mask fell off.

Everyone- meaning all three people in that area- gasped. Kid Danger grabbed it and slapped it back on so hard he cried out in pain. Captain Man looked around. Except for Piper (whom he didn't even know was there), everyone was running in the opposite direction. Or unconscious about fifteen feet away.

Piper bit her lip. _I must not have put it back on right somehow._ She shook her head and watched Captain Man try to comfort his sidekick.

"Kid, we've got to go. Here, get on my back." With great effort, Captain Man managed to help Kid Danger get onto his back and he ran off in the direction of where the Man Van was parked.

Piper hadn't realized how heavy her breathing was until it had returned to normal. She looked around. Everyone involved was either gone or knocked out.

In the distance, she heard sirens. She gasped and ran to her bike. She almost didn't bother to put her helmet on before riding home as fast as she could.

As she rode, one thought ran through her mind: _I have to tell him._

* * *

 **IlvNGTNSBFWFIYMHDisNickGirl: Nice!**

 **Alright, I'm giving y'all the answer: the Easter Egg I hid in Chapter 11 was the "dad's friend's cousin's dog's neighbor" quote and it was a line from the Disney TV show _Jessie._ **

**Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I know I've said this before, but: spoilers for past episodes ahead.**

* * *

"Keep the ice on for while." Charlotte held a bag of ice to her best friend's face, letting him take it. "It will help with the swelling."

They were in the Man Cave. Kid Danger fell asleep on the way back, but fortunately he didn't go into a coma or anything like that. In fact, his injuries weren't too bad, really, although he was really tired.

Barely having enough enough energy to walk to the couch, Henry was coaxed by Ray to blow a bubble and transform form back. Jasper was sitting next to him while Charlotte helped Schwoz take care of him.

"You're not in as bad shape as we thought." Charlotte sat down next to Henry and put her hand over his. "Your face looks pretty bad, but the rest of you is fine. You won't be limping or anything."

"Yeah, but how am I supposed to explain this to my parents?" Henry shifted the ice pack.

"You won't have to." Schwoz walked toward the group with a syringe that had a really (really, really) long needle in his hand. "I have the solution."

From behind him, Ray spoke up. "Uh, Schwoz, what is and what are you going to do with _that_?"

"It is a special injection I invented. Don't worry, it's been tested," added Schwoz, after seeing all the worries faces. "It will get rid of almost all the swelling in a short time, so Henry can go home without worrying."

"Uh…" Henry swallowed. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine. Turn your head."

Gulping, Henry obeyed. "Now hold still." Schwoz injected the medicine into a spot that was cold from being iced.

Henry sucked in a breath, but didn't say anything. "Actually, That didn't really- OW OW OW OW OW OW!" Henry dropped the ice pack and screamed in pain.

"Henry!" Charlotte grabbed his hand.

"Are you okay?!" Jasper picked up the bag of ice.

"Schwoz, what did you do to him?!" Ray spit in Schwoz's face a little.

"Oh, yeah," Schwoz yelled over Henry's screaming. "I forgot to mention that. It causes a great amount of pain, but it'll go away."

"When?" demanded Ray.

"Uh…" Schwoz knew he had gotten himself in trouble. "... about an hour. More or less," he added under his breath.

"Can't you give him some sort of painkiller?!" Charlotte had to raise her voice over Henry's screaming.

"No, this particular injection must not be used with any painkillers, or there would be dangerous side effects."

Ray looked about ready to kill Schwoz, but instead focused and comforting his sidekick. Charlotte let Henry squeeze her hand, and Jasper tried to hold the ice pack to his friend's face, and Ray awkwardly patted him on the back, not really sure what else to do. Schwoz quietly left the room.

After a few minutes, the pain started wearing down and Henry stopped screaming. Forty-five minutes after the injection he had a small headache, but nothing more.

Sure enough, though, the swelling was good as gone. It was almost impossible to tell he had been in a fight.

The three teens decided to go on ahead and leave. They walked toward their homes in silence for a few minutes until a Charlotte spoke up.

"You feeling okay?"

Henry nodded. "Yeah, my headache is pretty much gone."

"That's good," said Jasper. "Although I think Schwoz could stand to make that thing, hmm, I dunno, not as painful."

Henry nodded. "Yeah, he's lucky I don't hate him."

"I don't think you could ever hate Schwoz." Charlotte pointed out.

"Yeah," agreed Henry, "that's true."

No one else could think of anything to say for a minute. Then, "Do you guys remember the whole thing with Drex?"

Henry and Charlotte exchanged a look, neither of them having any idea why Jasper was bringing that up. "Yeah," Henry finally said after a minute. "I remember."

"Why? What's your point?"

Jasper looked over at Henry. "My point," he stated, "is that we found Drex-"

"I seem to recall it was me who located him."

"Whatever. But anyway, Drex was found, and you kicked his butt. Quite literally, if I remember right. And Drex was the worst."

"So?" Henry still couldn't see where this was going, although Charlotte was starting to understand.

"What I'm saying," said Jasper with a smile, "is that if you beat Drex all by yourself, you and Ray will kick Dr. Minyak's heiny back into prison so hard he won't be able to sit down for a week."

Henry smiled. (So did Charlotte.) "Thanks, Jasp." They reached the Hart house. "See you guys later!" Henry waved at his friends as he walked up to the porch and went inside.

* * *

"See you guys later!" Piper watched Henry wave at Charlotte and Jasper through her window. As soon as she got home (their parents were still out), she sat down and tried to think of a way to confess to Henry that… that she knew.

Since she couldn't come up with anything other than a speech, Piper decided to do what Jasper did: make a sign. Minus the note in the locker, as she knew she should tell him before tomorrow.

Anyway, Piper didn't actually need to make one. Back when Jasper had brought one over, she had stolen it after the whole fiasco (not that she knew all the details, of course) so she could have a dramatic way to blackmail him (if needed). Turns out, she had a new purpose for it.

"Pipes? You still here?" She heard him call up to her and left her room, stopping at the top of the stairs.

"Yeah, what?" Piper really didn't want to snap at Henry right then, but she knew it would seem weird if she didn't.

"Okay, okay, jeez." Henry turned from her and walked to the kitchen.

Piper walked back to her room to fetch the sign, then made her way to Henry's room.

She positioned herself below his little couch, opening the window to let a breeze through. Piper got on her phone, hiding it behind the sign; it wouldn't look as good if she didn't appear to have been waiting for him.

Piper hadn't been sitting there playing Octopie for more than a few minutes, however, when she heard the front door open downstairs.

Is it possible for a door to slam open instead of closed? Because that's what it sounded like.

Piper froze. All she could do- literally, her body was frozen- was listen.

Something glass smashed. There were several crashes. Something heavy- like, couch-heavy- slammed to the floor.

Piper was finally starting to realize that something horrible was happening when she heard footsteps running up the stairs.

* * *

 **Crystal E. Fall: So about 860 words into this chapter I thought of your review to C** **hapter 8 and remembered what the fourth wall joke was…**

 **IlvNGTNSBFWFIYMHDisNickGirl: Nice!**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	15. Chapter 15

It was adrenaline that got Piper moving. Henry's door was closed, but she knew that it wouldn't stop anybody, from the sound of what happened to the front door.

Anyway, the footsteps started getting closer. Piper finally found the will to move. She dropped the sign and bolted for the window.

And just in time, too. Piper had barely gotten a branch above the window when she heard Henry's door come down.

Piper fought hard to keep from shrieking as she climbed as high as she could. Trying to keep her breath steady, she hugged the trunk of the tree, listening.

Things were clearly being knocked over and broken, but Piper couldn't distinguish what was shattering from what was smashing. Her arms shook.

Finally, after a few minutes, a voice shouted something Piper couldn't make out, and the footsteps retreated.

But not before someone slammed the window shut- and locked it.

Piper's first instinct was to start climbing down to try and open the window somehow, but fortunately she ignored it, because a tightly packed group of dark-clothed people- there appeared to be a dozen or so in all- were all speed-walking towards a dark van.

Cliché, but still scary.

Piper watched the van drive away, hoping to catch the license plate, but it didn't have one on the front or back. "Helpful," she muttered under her breath.

Shaking, Piper climbed down the tree and attempted to open the window. Sure enough, though, it was locked from the inside. Piper grumbled and climbed all the way down, heading for the front porch.

The front door was completely ruined. Some of it was in shambles on the floor, and a small chunk of it was still attached to the hinges, like those swinging doors in Western movies. Piper was almost afraid to push it out of her way.

The entire first floor- excluding her parent's room and bathroom, and the downstairs bathroom- was as bad a wreck as it's main entrance. Almost everything on the shelves was on the floor, some of it broken. The blocks that spelled _DANGER_ had been knocked over, and the _D_ has a huge crack in it. The couch had a huge tear and was overturned. The family's favorite pillow- the one with the dog- had a long tear in it. So did all the other pillows, like the couch. There was food on the floor in the kitchen, and Piper almost stepped on a broken glass. Next to it was a puddle of what Piper at first thought was blood, but it was actually Hawaiian Punch.

The back door and the garage seemed fine, and the basement where the laundry room was had an overturned table but no other disturbances.

After a few minutes of examining the damage, Piper ran up the stairs. Her room looked untouched, and so did her and Henry's bathroom. It was Henry's room that was majorly messed up.

Both the main door and the closet door looked just like the front door downstairs. The mattress had been thrown into the floor, boxes under Henry's bed overturned, and the couch, aside from being upside down on the floor on top of the sign, had a huge rip in it, just like the couch downstairs. The half-lit PLAY sign had lost the A,which was now cracked sand on the floor, dim. There was a bunch of other stuff all over the floor, including Henry's little dog statue, which was broken in half.

 _Henry!_ Piper suddenly remembered her brother. Where was he? He had been downstairs when all the chaos started.

Piper gasped and covered her mouth. _What if they took him?_

Piper pulled out her phone and opened her tracker app. _Okay, so Henry is... in the basement?_

 _But I was just in the basement._

 _Maybe he's hiding down there somewhere._

Piper ran downstairs and, after a minute of searching, found Henry's phone behind the overturned table. She tried calling his name a few times. Nothing.

Piper's breathing started to get heavy. _I have to do something, but what?_

As if answering her question, Piper's body seemed to take over.

She found a dark backpack in her parent's room, and filled it with a dark change of clothes, some food, two plastic water bottles, her phone and a charger. She pulled back her hair into a ponytail, donned her bike helmet and climbed onto her bike. She rode away.

Piper wasn't exactly sure what she was doing, but she knew she had to do it.

* * *

"I'll return it tomorrow, he said," muttered Charlotte as she rode her own bike toward Henry's house. "I'll give it back to you on Sunday, he said."

A few days before, on Thursday, Henry had borrowed Charlotte's science textbook to study for a test that was supposed to be the next day. He had promised to return it as soon as he could, but they both forgot, and Charlotte wanted to study, so she decided to just go get it herself.

Charlotte left her bike on the driveway without taking off her helmet.

Charlotte approached the front porch, still muttering to herself. "'Yeah, Charlotte, you'll get it back before-' OH MY GOD!"

Guess what she saw? Yep, that would be her best friend's house completely trashed- the broken items, the overturned furniture, all of it. She almost gagged when she saw the Hawaiian Punch, thinking, like Piper, that is was someone's blood.

Charlotte's first instinct was to get the heck outta there, but she had to check for one thing first. Shaking like a leaf, she ran upstairs to Henry's room.

She swore upon arrival, not just because of what she saw, but also because of what she _didn't_ see.

The picture of a bug that hid the hollow area in his wall was broken in half and on the floor. The hollow area that normally housed his extra gumballs was empty.

 _Okay,_ now _I can leave._ Without hesitation, she unlocked and opened the window, practically jumping onto the branch that allowed you to get down.

Charlotte rode her bike until her legs were burning. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Ray, not even giving him a chance to say hi.

"Ray, something's wrong."

* * *

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Quick warning: a past episode is mentioned. Like, back from Season 1.**

* * *

 _What the heck am I doing?_

Actually, _heck_ wasn't the exact word Piper used, but that's not the point.

Piper had started riding in the general direction that the black van had gone, but pretty soon it had disappeared, like it was invisible or something. Unsure if where to go, Piper kept riding, hoping to get lucky.

What's weird is that every time she could have made a turn or whatever, something seemed to guide her. The first time, a pair of squirrels chased each other for two blocks, and Piper followed. Then, she followed a piece of trash flying in the wind until it got stopped by a garbage bin. At some point, she saw an old lady just staring off into space and went in that direction.

Piper had just made a right turn at the recommendation of a puddle when she had to stop and drink some water (from a water bottle, not the puddle).

She felt like she was getting close.

After resting for a few minutes, Piper climbed back onto her bike again, but something in her gut told her that this- whatever _this_ was- wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

Ray swore so much when he arrived at the Hart house that Charlotte had to smack him before he finally stopped. They both looked around the house, finding nothing and no one.

Schwoz was there, too, wielding some magical machine that Charlotte had helped him create. Ray knew that it searched for someone's DNA (like hair strands and fingerprints) or something, but not much beyond that.

They found Henry's DNA just about everywhere (duh), plus a lot of DNA they couldn't identify. They knew some of it had to be from Piper and her and Henry's parents. Plus, Charlotte and Jasper were there all the time.

Anyway, Schwoz says that once they'll able to separate the DNA, they can try matching it with other samples. But they don't have samples for any of the Hart's except for Henry.

"How are we going to explain this?" Charlotte sat down on the overturned couch.

Ray shrugged. "I don't think we'll have to. We could pretend not to know anything and they'll just assume it was a very aggressive robbery. Good thing we wore gloves. But I'm mostly just concerned." Ray sat down next to Charlotte. "Henry won't pick up his phone or his Wiz Watch, and then there's his family."

Charlotte but her lip. "Henry's parents had left town this morning, but they haven't come back yet. And I don't have a clue where Piper is." Her voice started to get a bit shaky.

Just then, Schwoz walked into the room. "Any luck?" Ray asked, standing up.

"Kinda. I found no one, but I did find Henry's cell phone." He held it up as evidence.

"Certainly explains why he didn't pick up." Ray nervously ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah," said Charlotte, "but now his phone is useless as far as finding him." Her head snapped up. "Ray, didn't you-"

She was cut off by the sound of Henry's phone ringing. They all jumped.

"Aw, geez, it's his mom!" Ray had snatched the phone from Schwoz to check the caller I.D.

They all looked at each other, in a panic. Then Ray hurled the phone across the house and it bounced off the wall and stopped ringing.

"Uh… okay." Charlotte suddenly remembered what she was about to say earlier. "Ray, didn't you put a tracker on him?"

Ray actually looked hopeful for a second but then frowned. "Yeah, I replaced the one that got destroyed after the whole Wall Dog incident, but it's in his uniform, so unless he's Kid Danger right now…" his voice trailed off and he didn't bother finishing the sentence.

Schwoz pulled out his phone and made a few clicks. Then he frowned. "Can't find him, he must not be Kid Danger right now then." He put his phone away.

Suddenly, Charlotte gasped, causing Ray and Schwoz to jump. "Guys! What if his identity is in danger?!"

Ray and Schwoz looked at each other, and then back at Charlotte, then at each other again, and then back at Charlotte. To say she looked really worried would be a huge understatement.

"Guys, we _need_ to find him."

* * *

Piper sat on the curb, hugging her knees. The sun was starting to go down, and she was beginning to really get scared. _Why didn't those people wait until dark?_ She wondered. _I guess they had their reasons. Not that that justifies any of this._

There was one- actually, two- things Piper was really concerned about: her parents.

If Henry has gone missing a week ago, she would have called the cops and told their parents immediately. (Mostly because she would feel guilty otherwise.) But now that she knew he was Kid Danger (which she actually felt bad about), she was afraid more people would find out. _I can't tell my parents._

Just as she was thinking this, her phone rang and she almost screamed.

Praying it was Henry, she dug through her bag and pulled it out.

 _Dang!_ It was her parents. Piper considered not answering, but she needed to know how much they knew.

"Hi, sweetie!" Her mom said in a cheerful voice. The knot in Piper's stomach loosened just a bit; no way her mom would sound that cheerful if she knew what was going on.

"Hi, Mom. What's up?"

"Piper, the car broke down and since your father took the other keys-"

"It's not my fault!"

"-we're just going to stay at a friend's house until tomorrow. Will you and Henry be okay? We actually tried calling him but he didn't pick up."

 _Shoot!_ "Uh… Henry… is… taking-a-shower! Yeah, he left his phone downstairs. Um, yeah, we'll be okay. No problem."

"Okay, sweetie! Please tell your brother when he gets out of the shower."

"Yeah, I will." _Not._ Piper crossed her fingers.

"Love you, bye!" Piper hung up before her mom could and reached for her bike helmet.

Right as her fingers were making contact, though, everything went dark, and she felt a pain in the back of her head.

 _Hey! Who turned out the lights?_

 _And why does my head hurt?_

 _Do I hear footsteps?_

 _Oh-_

Piper wasn't able to finish that last thought, because she at that point she was unconscious.

* * *

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

Charlotte despised Ray's old van. It was beyond disgusting and need to be washed, if not replaced.

But if riding around in it with Jasper and Schwoz in the backseat meant finding Henry and Piper, every disease she contracts from the filthy vehicle will be worth it.

Charlotte and Jasper were sitting on opposite sides of the van, peering out the window in hopes that they'd see a clue. Schwoz was fiddling with his DNA device, hoping to find a signal.

They had been driving around for a good twenty minutes when Charlotte yelled "Stop the van!" And jumped out.

 _Sure enough._ Just as she had suspected, it was Piper's bike. And a backpack. Jasper put on his gloves and zipped it open as Charlotte turned to Ray.

"This is Piper's bike. And I recognize that backpack." Her expression shifted from curiosity and recognition to alarm. "Oh shoot, what if they got her?!" Her eyes began to water.

Schwoz gave her an awkward pat. "I'm sure they're both fine."

Charlotte gave him a look. "And how do you know?"

"Yeah," added Jasper, having temporarily abandoned his search.

"Think about it," said Schwoz, pointing to his own head. "If these people kidnapped Henry because they know he's Kid Danger- and seeing as how his gum is gone that's a high possibility- then they must've taken Piper because they want to use her against him. Like, 'Don't fight us and your sister lives.'"

In case you haven't guessed, this was not at all comforting. Charlotte turned away so they guys wouldn't see her trying not to cry, and Jasper rolled his eyes, going back to the backpack.

That's when something started vibrating. Everyone jumped about a mile.

"Wha-wha-what's that?" Jasper slowly stood up.

It was Charlotte who finally spotted Piper's phone on the sidewalk. She was getting a call from someone named Marla. The buzzing stopped. Cautiously, Charlotte picked it up. "So that's useless in helping find her." She turned to Jasper. "So what's on the bag?"

"Food, water, some clothes- oh, gross, Piper underwear!" He yanked his hand out of the bag. Charlotte peered into it.

"It looks like she was going somewhere, or planned on being out for a while." She frowned. "Maybe she was going over to Marla's house and that's why she called. Because she's trying to find her."

"No, Marla's house is across town." Everyone looked at Jasper, surprised he knew this information. "What?" He turned to Charlotte. "Piper made me carry her over there that one time, remember?"

Charlotte nodded. "Oh, yeah. But I'm sure Piper has other friends."

"Right now, let's just focus on finding them," said Ray. "Schwoz, find anything?"

Schwoz, who had been scanning the bicycle with his DNA device, looked up. "There is DNA that matches some of that we found at Henry's house, but I can't find any within ten feet in all directions."

Ray didn't even bother asking how he was able to figure that out. "Well, we haven't really accomplished anything except confirming we have to find Popper, too."

"Piper, Ray." Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." Ray rolled his eyes right back. "What's in a name, anyway? Flowers still smell."

Schwoz spoke up. "Aside from the fact that you quoted Shakespeare incorrectly-"

"I did? I mean, no, that was right."

"Not entirely, Ray. Anyway, what are we gonna do?"

They all exchanged looked.

"Maybe," said Charlotte, "we could go back to the Man Cave and see if we can connect this to anything."

"Yeah… who do you guys think is behind this?" Jasper had a point.

"I don't know," said Charlotte before the pause got too long. "With our luck, it could be a professional villain we don't know anything about."

"Hey, think positive." Ray jabbed his thumb toward the van. "I say we try Charlotte's idea. Unless anyone else had a better idea."

* * *

 _I guess I don't have any better ideas._

Piper had only been knocked out for a few minutes, but it was long enough for someone- or several someones, more likely- to toss her into the back of a moving van. She had ropes around her wrists, tying her hands behind her back. He feet were also tied together.

Piper had been trying to think of a way to escape. She had already tried scooting over to the door and wiggling the handle, but it was locked from the outside. She was out of ideas.

Piper was racking her brain, trying to think, when suddenly the moving van came to a stop that literally threw her halfway across the floor.

The door was opened and unlocked. (Wait- strike that, reverse it.) Piper saw three figures, all dressed in black with ski masks.

"You say one word," hissed one of them, the voice sounding feminine, "you make one sound, we knock your lights out. And it won't be as painless this time. Understand?"

Piper nodded, not sure what else she could do.

"Good." The first person nodded to the other two. They climbed into the truck and approached Piper. She swallowed.

One of the people stuck a gag in her mouth (making Piper question the point of the you-had-better-keep-quiet threat). Then he and his buddy each grabbed her by the arm, holding her a foot above the ground. These two were roughly the same size as Jeff, but their size clearly came from muscles.

After they were out, the first one closed the door. The big metal door had to be heavy, but she did it effortlessly. If these people were working for someone, they clearly had to stay physically strong.

The first person opened a door. The hallway inside was totally dark, so Piper couldn't see. The henchmen- Piper had decided at this point that they were probably working for someone- had all donned night vision goggles and had no trouble seeing where they were going.

Piper, on the other hand, had zero idea if they were turning left or right or what. It seemed to have only been a couple minutes later when she heard a door open. A bit of blue light shined in her eyes, and she had to close them.

The two henchmen set her down- surprisingly, they did it gently- before leaving, locking the door behind them.

Piper, still struggling to see, grunted as she worked her arms to her front so she could remove that nasty gag.

No sooner had she done so when a familiar but muffled voice said, "Piper?

* * *

 **39addict101: I thought about your review carefully. Truthfully, I had made the decision I did in what I had Jasper say because I thought it got hit character better, although I can see the example you thought of making sense. And no worries, any constructive criticism is fine with me!**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

The voice made Piper jump. She nervously choked out a meek "Who- who said that?"

"Piper?" The voice said again, still muffled.

Squinting, Piper scores forward a bit and saw a face. She gasped.

"Henry?!" She reached forward and removed a gag from his mouth. "Ohmigod, are you okay?"

Henry had a black eye and a huge slash across his cheek that probably only just stopped bleeding. Piper could also make out a faint bruise on his forehead, and he had managed to move his arms to the front but couldn't move them far enough to take out the gag.

"Since when have you been concerned about my well being? Yeah, I'm okay. Are you?"

"Physically, anyway. Henry, what's going on? I heard crashes and-"

"Yeah, I heard 'em too. One of those crashes was me being whacked with a vase."

"Oh, God."

It dawned on Piper that this could've been happening because Henry was Kid Danger. _But how the heck do I bring something like_ that _up?_

"Uh… did you see the house?"

"What happened to the house?" Piper heard feat creeping into Henry's voice. "It looked fine before I got knocked out."

"Oh. Well… the foundation of the actual house itself is fine, but half the inside is completely trashed. They messed up your room pretty bad."

" _My_ room?!" Henry cried, thinking of his gumballs.

"Yeah…" Piper swallowed. "You never told me you had a hole in the wall behind that picture."

Henry was just about frozen with fear. He knew asking was a huge risk, but it was one he had to take. "Was… was there anything in the hole?"

Piper racked her brain. "I don't know, I wasn't looking," she said with a frown.

Henry felt the knot in his stomach tighten a little. "Aw, geez," he muttered, hoping Piper wouldn't ask-

"Why?"

 _Dang!_ Henry fumbled for an explanation. "Uh… I… have… a… secret candy stash?"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Oh, can it, Henry." He looked up in surprise. "What?"

"I know you're lying, Henry."

She saw him get nervous. "Wha-wha-what are you talking about?"

Piper seemed to finally realize what she was doing. She took a deep breath. "Henry… I know."

His facial expression went from fake confused to even faker confused. "Know what?"

"I know you're Kid Danger."

She saw it; it flickered across his face for only a second, but it was there: fear.

"Me?!" He squeaked in a high, I'm-obviously-lying voice. "Oh, I _wish_!" He gave the fakest laugh ever.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Oh, give it up, Henry. I know. I heard you talking about Dr. Minyak and that secret shoplifting thing. If I had paid attention before now I would've figured it out a long time ago."

Henry bit his lip. Denial wasn't working.

"Piper," he said quietly, "you don't know how serious this is."

"Yeah?"

"Pipes, if Captain Man-"

"Lemme guess, Ray, right?"

"Shhh! Okay, yes, if Ray finds out you know, he'll wipe your brain!"

Piper certainly didn't expect to hear _that_. "Wait- _what_?"

"Piper, Ray has wiped memories before because people have found out. Well, okay, one, but still."

"But Charlotte and Jasper obviously know, and they're fine."

"Ray was only okay with letting Charlotte in on it because she was obviously a huge help, and he had originally _fired_ me when she figured it out."

"Oh... what about Jasper?"

"Jasper found out purley by accident, but I… well, I threatened to quit being Kid Danger if Ray did anything."

"Wow. Wait, so whose memory did he wipe?"

"Some guy from your stupid tanning salon came upstairs and saw me without my mask-"

Piper gasped. "Oh, no! No no no no no!"

Henry stared at her. "What? What is it?"

"Oh, God, Henry, I'm so sorry!" Piper began to cry.

"Pipes, I'm confused."

"I… I pulled off…" she gulped. "Henry, when you and Ray were fighting Minyak and those guys today and you got knocked out… I… I was there and I peeked under your mask. Someone else must have seen. I'm so sorry."

Actually, one of the henchmen had seen when his mask fell off later, but Henry didn't feel like he could be sure of that, so he didn't mention it. He attempted to pull her into a hug (no easy feat, since they were both tied up). "It's okay, Pipes… look, right now… right now let's just focus on getting out of here." He looked around. "Uh… any ideas?"

Piper looked around. "I don't know… maybe a window?"

"If there's a window in here it's covered up and locked."

"I don't have any better ideas."

Henry thought for a moment. And then-

"Henry, don't you have some way of communicating with Captain Man?!"

Henry actually looked hopeful for a second before frowning. "Yeah, my watch has a hologram, but whoever brought us here took it."

They were silent for about a minute before Piper spoke up again. "What were you asking about?"

"Huh?"

"Earlier, when you were asking if anything was in the wall."

"Oh. Um…" Henry bit his lip. "Well, you may as well know. I have a tube of special gum that when I chew and blow a bubble, it turns me into Kid Danger. I usually keep it hidden there and keep another one with me."

"Oh." Piper couldn't resist asking. "Can I have some?"

Henry rolled his eyes. "Um, no."

"Please? I'll be your best friend!"

"First of all, that's a lame argument. Second, Charlotte's my best friend already… Charlotte! Piper, by _any_ _chance_ do you have your phone?"

Piper frowned. "No, I dropped it when they came for me." She lifted her head. "Maybe there's a phone around here somewhere?"

"It would be pretty difficult to get to."

Piper shrugged. She scooted closer and leaned against him. He hugged her.

"You've really changed, you know."

Piper looked up. "What?"

"I used to be afraid that you would spread the word like wildfire if you found out. But... instead you've taken matters into to your own hands." He smiled. "I'm really proud of you, Pipes."

Piper actually smiled. She had always wanted to hear Kid Danger say that he was proud of her for something, but hearing it from her brother who _was_ Kid Danger was even better. "Thanks."

Neither of them could think of anything else to say, but this wasn't a problem.

Because the door swung open, revealing a snarling Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort.

* * *

Charlotte paced the Man Cave. It was her idea to check the cameras that were hidden around town, but the boys had found nothing and she was getting anxious.

"Are you sure?" She kept asking. "Maybe you're doing it wrong."

"I'm not even going to bother asking how we could be doing this wrong," said Ray. Charlotte gave him a look. "I think you need to go in a stress run."

Charlotte looked up. "What?"

"Go down the tubes a few stories and you'll find the Man Track."

"What an original name."

"Whatever. Just go run some."

Actually, Charlotte knew from experience that going for a run would help calm her down, so she started for the tubes. However, she hadn't gotten very far before she heard Jasper yell, "I've got something!"

* * *

 **So in my last story I had mentioned that writing a new chapter on a school bus late at night wasn't all that easy. Turns out just editing isn't much better.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	19. Chapter 19

Henry's first instinct was to go kick Minyak in the face (as well as other locations), but obviously that wasn't an option because of the ropes.

Piper's eyes went straight past the super villains to the open door, but running wasn't an option, either.

They were trapped.

"Aw, how cute," said Dr. Minyak in a teasing voice. "You don't see brothers and sisters getting along so well these days."

Henry glared at him, not bothering to acknowledge the comment. "What do you want?"

"And here I thought you had figured it out already. But I suppose I can't judge." He looked at Piper. "I should've known that the _president_ -" he put special emphasis on the word _president_ "-of the uncleverly named _Man Fans_ would have a connection to Kid Danger."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Piper prayed that he wouldn't be able to tell she was lying. It did occur to her, though, that if not for Henry being Kid Danger she may not have even become Man Fans President. Long story short: the butterfly effect.

Anyway. "Oh, really?" Dr. Minyak turned to his assistant. "Why don't we show our guests our little video?"

Nurse Cohort nodded. "I think that's a wonderful idea." Then she just stood there."

Minyak awkwardly shifted before hissing, "Show them the video!"

"You have the remote, it's in your pocket." She glanced over at Piper. "You remember this, right?"

"Yeah," she said cautiously, hoping Nurse Cohort wasn't trying to bring her guard down.

And then: "Of course it's not in my pocket, don't you think I'd-" he didn't even finish his sentence before tapping his pocket and finding it. Nurse Cohort gave Piper a look that seemed to say _Boys_.

Dr. Minyak made a few clicks, and a screen that they hadn't been able to see before lit up. It showed a clip that was short, fuzzy, and had awful background noise, but Henry and Piper were able to tell what was happening.

It was a clip from earlier today, when Kid Danger's mask fell off. It was like one of those GIFs; it showed the falling off of the mask to when he has slapped it back on.

"Good thing I had found a box of old body cameras," Dr. Minyak sneered. "Oh, not so good for you, now, is it?" He smirked. "And guess what else a camera picked up?" He made a few more clicks.

The next clip on the screen was clear enough that you could make out Piper's face. It was even shorter than the first one; it only showed her blowing the dart gun.

Henry looked at her, confused. "What?"

Dr. Minyak smirked. "Oh don't pretend like you didn't know. You only got away because _this_ little _parasite-_ "

"Hey!"

"-shot my right buttock with a dart gun."

"Actually," said Nurse Cohort, getting everyone's attention, "it was your left butt cheek."

"No matter." Minyak turned to face Henry and Piper again. "There is no dart gun this time, so we don't have to worry about you little-"

 _BOOM._

Whatever Dr. Minyak was about to call them was lost in an explosion. Piper shrieked and awkwardly ducked, and Henry, having momentarily forgotten about being tied up, attempted to jump up into a standing position but ending up falling and hitting the floor.

As the dust cleared, Henry, Piper, Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort were able to make out a figure running towards them.

"Captain Man?!" Dr. Minyak cried, looking absolutely aghast.

"Captain Man?" Nurse Cohort frantically tried to check her hair in the reflection of the shattered TV screen, which had turned off during the explosion.

"Captain Man!" Henry and Piper yelled, trying to get his attention.

Captain Man glanced over at them but turned his attention right back onto the villains. "Alright, you evils." He pounded a fist into his other hand. "Let's party."

Dr. Minyak frantically tried to reach for an alarm that was on the wall, but Captain Man grabbed him and threw the first punch.

Henry and Piper were so preoccupied watching that they both screamed when a hand grabbed each of their shoulders.

Another hand from each person behind them slapped over their mouths.

"Shhh!" Someone exclaimed. Henry turned his neck and saw-

"Charlotte?!" His voice was muffled, so it sounded more like "Wha-wit?"

"Shut up!" Charlotte finally got in front of Henry, and he gasped.

Charlotte was wearing his Kid Danger uniform. She had also donned a long blonde wig that was one long French braid. She pulled a knife out of her pocket and cut his ropes.

"Here," she said, pushing something into his palm. "Hold on a second."

They both turned to see Jasper- wearing a Kid Danger outfit as well with a bunch of black goo in his hair- cutting Piper's ropes. He grabbed her by the arm and led her outside, where the Man Van was waiting.

"Ok, now." Charlotte pulled out a laser and aimed for Dr. Minyak, turning her back to Henry.

Henry unfurled his fist and saw a gumball. He popped it into his mouth, chewing as fast as he could, and blew.

* * *

"Wait!" Piper was practically thrown into the Man Van. Jasper climbed in after her.

"Are you okay? What happened? WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" Jasper started firing questions at her.

"JA- I mean, Kid Danger, shouldn't you be helping them?!"

"My job is to stay here and watch you because then I'm 'not as likely to mess this up.'" Jasper wasn't doing a very good job of pretending to be Kid Danger. He opened the window curtains and peeked out.

Something flashed, catching Piper's eye. She reached down and picked it up.

A gumball tube. Piper read the shiny, almost clear words on the side: _CHEW GUM. BLOW BUBBLE. FIGHT CRIME._

 _Of course,_ she thought. _This must be one of Henry's gumball tubes._ She glanced behind her. Jasper was still watching the fight. Setting the tube down behind her back, she tapped his shoulder. He turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"Go help them."

Jasper couldn't contain his surprise. "What?"

"Go help them. You're _Kid Danger_. Go help them."

Jasper smiled. "Yeah! I _am_ Kid Danger!"

 _As if._ "Hurry! They need you!"

Jasper gave some sort of battle cry and practically flew out of the van, running back inside. Piper picked up the tube of gum and popped it open, shaking one into her palm. She stuck it in her mouth- _Hey, this tastes pretty good!_ \- and, after, a minute of chewing, blew.

She was enclosed in lights- _This looks so cool!_ \- and she found herself in Henry's Kid Danger uniform.

She looked in the rearview mirror. _Cool._ Her ponytail had been redone and was now also braided. _I make a cute Kid Danger._

 _Hey, Piper, fight now, looks later._

Piper opened the door to the Man Van. Taking a deep breath, she made a dead sprint toward the open door.

* * *

 **I forgot to mention this last week...**

 **If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had wonderful celebrations! :)**

 **If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you still had a good day! :)**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	20. Chapter 20

**I think this is the longest chapter in this story so far, so brace yourselves.**

* * *

When Piper finally go back inside, it took her a minute to identify everyone because of all the uniforms.

Captain Man- _Ray_ \- was dealing with a bunch of bad guys in a giant clump, like last time. Dr. Minyak was being backed into a corner by Kid Danger- the real Kid Danger- and Charlotte. They were both point some kind of laser zapper at him. Jasper was attempting to chase after Nurse Cohort.

Piper looked around, her braid swinging behind her. The moonlight- it had to be at least midnight- glowed across the room. It hit something and caught Piper's eye.

A blaster.

Piper glanced around before trying to quickly but stealthy creep over and pick it up. Fortunately, no one noticed her, and she picked it up, testing its weight.

She found the trigger and looked around. Glancing down, she saw it was set to _STUN_. Piper glanced around again before firing at the ground. A thin green beam not unlike what was coming out of Kid Danger and Charlotte's laser zappers shot at the ground. _Hmm._

Piper looked behind her and saw that Jasper was still trying to chase down Nurse Cohort. She brought the blaster up to what seemed like the correct position, took a deep breath, and fired.

She missed.

She did, however, end up hitting one of the henchmen- the one Piper recognized as one of the people who brought her here- who fell to the ground.

Piper attempted to keep the blaster steady and fired a few more times, hitting more henchmen until there was only one left. Captain Man threw a few punches and the guy got knocked down and out.

And then he turned.

 _Holy shoot, he's looking right at at me._

Just then, though, Nurse Cohort ran in front of her, followed by Jasper. They caught Captain Man's attention and he joined the chase.

Piper glanced around again. Kid Danger and Charlotte appeared to be putting an unconscious Minyak in handcuffs, and Captain Man and Jasper were chasing Nurse Cohort. They seemed to be getting further away. Piper thought about helping them, but then remembered what Henry had said about getting her brain wiped. _I should go._

Piper jogged away as quietly as she could and climbed back into the Man Van. She saw her reflection in the mirror and panicked.

 _How do I get out of this thing?!_

Piper spotted the gumball tube and picked it up. _Maybe I'm supposed to chew another one?_

Piper took another gumball and chewed. Right after the blew a bubble, transforming back to her normal self, she heard sirens. _I guess they called the cops._

Piper snuggled down in her seat. Now that she was away from all the chaos, tiredness hit her like a truck. She let her eyes close.

* * *

"What do you mean, she got away?!" Kid Danger threw his hands out in a _Are-You-Freaking-Kidding-Me?!_ gesture. "How?!"

"She was really fast." Jasper panted. Captain Man nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Although I _could've_ caught her if _Jasper_ here hadn't abandoned his post."

"Hey, she would've gotten away a whole lot faster if not for me!" Jasper yelled, standing up for himself.

"Shut up, Jasper!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Wow."

Everyone glanced over to where Dr. Minyak was sitting in a cop car, yelling obscene things at Captain Man and, um, the three Kid Dangers. Nurse Cohort, as it turns out, had managed to outrun both Captain Man and Jasper and get away, and some cops were trying to figure out where she went. Captain Man shifted his gaze to the Man Van.

"Captain Man?" Everyone turned around to see a pair of cops. One, a man, was trying to keep from squealing in excitement as he addressed the super hero. The other, a woman, was rolling her eyes and finally just talked for her partner.

"Captain Man, and, um, Kid Dangers, we found what appears to be an office. It's fully intact. Should we search it or would you like to?"

"We will. Has anyone found Nurse Cohort?"

"Not yet, but we'll keep looking."

"Alright."

The cops left. Or, more accurately, the female cop dragged her partner away before he started being an annoying fanboy in front of the supers. Captain Man turned to the kids.

"Charlotte and Jasper, go raid the office. We'll be there in a minute." Nodding, Charlotte and Jasper left, looking over their shoulders before becoming out of sight.

Captain Man turned to his sidekick. "Henry, how much does she know?"

"What?"

"Piper!"

"Oh. She doesn't," he lied. "She was knocked out until, like, a minute before you guys showed up. Thanks, by the way."

Captain Man looked relieved. "Good, I didn't need you whining about her brain getting wiped. Guess you guys got lucky. And you're welcome. Come on, let's go."

"Yep." They half walked, half jogged in the direction the cops and friends had. Kid Danger had never been all that religous, but he said a silent prayer of thanks that Captain Man hadn't seen right through him. He had always protected his baby sister by not telling her a secret.

Now he was keeping a secret from his boss to protect her.

* * *

The office search was not in any way a waste of time. The superheroes (etc.) found hard copies of files that listed who everyone was involved in everything. _Everything_ meaning all of Minyak's plans since after the time his brain was wiped. Most of the henchmen had already been identified by the cops who were taking the unconscious bodies to their cars. A laptop (with a weak password that was _Minyak_ ) had digital copies of all these files. The only person, it seemed, who got away was Nurse Cohort.

One more thing: they found Henry's gumball tube and watch. The tube was hidden in plain sight, placed in a pencil jar. Kid Danger gripped it tight, not letting it go. The watch, which he immediately put back on, was just sitting on the desk.

"What did Ray want to talk to you about?" Charlotte asked him as they walked back to the Man Van.

Kid Danger glanced behind him, where Captain Man had decided to chew out Jasper again for leaving Piper and fighting/chasing Nurse Cohort around. "He was asking me if Piper knew."

Charlotte raised her eyebrows. "And?"

Kid Danger glanced over his shoulder again to see Captain Man and Jasper coming. He turned his head back. "I'll explain later."

Charlotte raised her eyebrows even higher. "Oh, boy."

Kid Danger climbed into the back seat so he could sit with Piper. Charlotte followed him, leaving the front passenger seat to Jasper. Captain Man climbed into the driver's seat and followed the last few cop cars that were leaving. "Is she asleep?" He asked, referring to Piper.

Kid Danger glanced down at his little sister, whose eyes were closed and breathing was steady. "Yeah."

"Alright. You guys go on ahead on transform back."

They all silently obeyed. Henry took three gumballs out of his tube and distributed them to his friends before pocketing it. They all chewed and blew, colorful lights filling up the Man Van. Charlotte took off her wig and wigcap, letting her curls loose. Jasper still had the black goo in his hair.

Henry glanced down back at his sister. _Still asleep._

Except she wasn't. Piper had woken up when she heard the doors open, but stayed down because she didn't want anyone to figure out that she knew, assuming Kid Danger hadn't told. She kept her eyes closed and breathing steady while she eavesdropped.

"Alright, you guys. I'm dropping y'all off at Henry's house."

"Ray, what about my parents?" Henry hadn't thought of of them once since Piper had been locked up with him.

"Don't worry," said Charlotte before Captain Man could. "We found Piper's phone- here's her stuff, by the way." She picked up the backpack from the Man Van floor. They had taken it with them after finding it. "Anyway, I hacked in and listened to the conversation she and her mom had. They won't be home until tomorrow." She gave him a subtle look that said _It was also very confusing_. Henry figured the others hadn't listened to it because no one asked why Piper lied for him.

"Today." Everyone looked at Captain Man. "What?" Charlotte said.

Captain Man pointed to the van clock. It was a few minutes past midnight.

"Today, then, but not for a while. Which gives you guys time to clean your house because it was completely trashed."

"I know." Charlotte stepped on his foot. _Oops._ "Yeah, before I got knocked out I saw a bunch of stuff get knocked over." This was actually true, but exaggerated.

"Yeah," said Charlotte. "That makes sense."

Henry mouthed _Thanks_. She mouthed _You're_ _welcome_ back.

The rest of the ride was silent because no one wanted to wake up Piper. Ironic, really, seeing as how she wasn't asleep.

She heard Henry lie for her.

She didn't dare say it out loud: _Thank you, Henry._

* * *

Captain Man dropped all four kids off at Henry's house, but Charlotte and Henry made Jasper leave. They loved the guy, but Henry didn't trust him enough. He was sure Ray would find out in less than a week. Captain Man left to go get information from the police.

"Alright, turn on a light." Henry didn't want it to bug Piper, whom he was carrying, but he had to see. "Can you help me get Piper upstairs?"

"I'm not asleep." Piper opened her eyes. Henry was so startled he almost dropped her. "Careful!"

"Okay, then. If you're awake, then you're helping us clean," said Henry, gently setting he down. He turned to Charlotte. "How did you find us?"

"You owe _me_ an explanation first," she said, nodded towards Piper and crossing her arms.

Henry looked from his best friend to his sister and back again. "This," he said, "is going to be a long night."

* * *

 **Alright, so I am not making any promises here, but I think it's safe to say that the story will not have very many more chapters. I'm pretty sure it won't be complete by New Year, but as said, I'm not making any promises.**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	21. Chapter 21

"Alright, on three. One, two, _three_!"

Henry and Charlotte heaved the last section of the overturned couch back to its normal position. Everyone in the house had a lot to explain, so they might as well be comfortable.

Piper was in the kitchen, sitting on her knees on top of the counter. She rummaged through everything- this cabinet still had its contents, just overturned- and finally found what she was looking for.

"Aha!" She held it up in victory: a box of hot chocolate powder. This particular kind was about 99% caffeine, which is why Mr. and Mrs. Hart don't like Piper and Henry having it.

Obviously, they didn't care right then.

"Great," said Henry from the other room. "You make some and we'll… we'll do something."

Henry and Charlotte spent the next few minutes making a small dent in the huge mess that littered the house. Piper made the hot chocolate.

She picked out the mugs carefully. For Charlotte, she picked out a colorful tye-dye one. For Henry, she dug out a really funny one of Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus pulling the sleigh while a reindeer with a broken leg sat inside it. (Piper knew it wasn't Christmastime, but ultimately, she didn't care.) For herself, she found one that was just like Charlotte's but was different shades a blue.

Everyone took their mugs and sat down on the long part of the couch in a triangle. Silence.

"So…" Charlotte started. "Who's talking first?"

"I guess me," said Henry. He straighten up a little bit. "So… you know how we've been keeping you-know-what a secret from Piper?"

 _Oh, boy._ "Yes?" It was both a question and a statement.

"Well… she kinda knows now."

"I kinda figured. How?"

Henry kept taking to Charlotte but was looking at Piper. "I don't know."

She took that as a cue. "Uh, okay… so Saturday morning when you were still asleep, I went to your room to borrow your charger-" Henry's first instinct was to yell "Hey!" but he was dying to hear Piper's explanation. "-and I was about to leave when I heard you talking."

"Talking?"

"Yeah, apparently you talk in your sleep."

"Oh. What was I saying?" Then it hit him. "Oh." He looked at Charlotte, who had also put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"So basically," she said, "you got dream busted."

Henry was too tired to roll his eyes. "I guess that's one way of putting it." He thought of the Dream Beam. "Dream busted" was probably what the others had called it when they rescued him. (They did, actually, on the rare occasions the subject came up.)

"And then?" Charlotte asked Piper, interrupting Henry's thoughts.

"So then I started investigating. I followed you guys around some, and…." Piper was about to say that she peeked under Henry's mask, but she didn't want to say it. "And I eavesdropped some, and, well, things happened. Long story short, I know." She took a sip of hot chocolate and attempted to look both her brother and Charlotte in the eyes. "Are you gonna tell Ray?"

"No," said Henry before he knew it. He looked over at Charlotte. "There's no way Ray will accept this. And Piper figured things out for herself and didn't tell a sole. I think we can trust her."

Piper smiled. She leaned over and gave her brother a hug.

"I agree," said Charlotte, looking directly at Piper. "A few days ago, the thought of you knowing scared every cell in my body, living and dead. But now-" She reached over and put a hand on Piper's knee. "-now, I believe you will keep this secret."

Piper smiled and leaned in the other direction to hug her friend.

"So…" Henry said slowly after like a minute of hugging. "I hate to interrupt this nice moment of acceptance, but…." He waved his arm to indicate the trashed house.

"Oh, right." Charlotte let go. So did Piper. The older girl stood up. "Hold on a minute."

She left her friends behind and walked around the house, counting the number of rooms that needed to be cleaned. She came back, picked up a sticky note and pencil, and started writing down what appeared to be math. Henry and Piper exchanged a look. How that girl could do so much math without having a mental and emotional breakdown was beyond them.

Five minutes and three sticky notes later, Charlotte finally looked up.

"Alright," she said. "Here's the game plan."

* * *

Charlotte's "game plan" turned out to be splitting up the work to get as much done as possible in about five hours. Truthfully, the house didn't look so bad now. The only room that still needed work was Henry's room, but it was mostly clean.

The progress was amazing, but exhausting.

Henry, Piper and Charlotte were more tired than they've ever been before. (Well, except maybe Henry.) By the time six A.M. rolled around, Henry and Piper were whining that they didn't want to go to school. Charlotte didn't back down and insisted, but even she wouldn't have minded spending the day napping.

Instead of walking or driving (which wasn't an option anyway), all three kids found bus stops near the house. Piper got on her own bus a block away while Henry and Charlotte texted Jasper to just walk without them, saying they overslept and would just take the bus. That explanation had some holes in it, but he bought it anyway. The bus finally pulled up, and they climbed on.

They both sipped from their disposable coffee cups, which were filled with more caffeinated hot chocolate. Piper had one, too. All three of them kept getting refills throughout the wee hours of the morning. They had to wash the mugs and put everything away so Mr. and Mrs. Hart wouldn't find out.

"You know," said Henry quietly, balancing his cup, "you never explained how you found us."

"I guess not." She glanced over her shoulder at the other kids. "But not here."

Henry nodded. He figured she would say that.

* * *

The school day went by very slowly. Henry and Charlotte skipped lunch and took a nap in the empty school auditorium. When Jasper asked them about it later, they lied and said that Charlotte was helping Henry with math.

Charlotte never got around to telling Henry how they found him and Piper out of paranoia- until after school.

Jasper was actually the one to bring it up. "Hey, Charlotte did you tell Henry how we found him and Piper?"

Charlotte looked over her shoulder before answering. "No, I forgot."

"Ooh, can I tell him?!"

"Sure," said Charlotte. "Just make it quick, we've only got about a block to go until we get to Junk N' Stuff."

* * *

 **Okay, I'm taking a guess here, so keep that in mind: I think- THINK- that there will most likey be fewer than five chapters left. Again, this is just a guesstimate. I really wish I could be more certain about it, but I really can't be as sure as last time when Shot Down was ending ladt summer because I don't have a lot of extra time to write. I'll do my best, though.**

 **Ciao, and Reading!**


	22. Chapter 22

Jasper didn't waste any time and immediately launched into the story. "Okay, so Charlotte goes to your house and finds it completely trashed…."

* * *

" _I've got something!" Jasper yelled. Charlotte ran across the Man Cave, almost knocking over Ray and Schwoz. "What?! What is it?!" She screeched._

 _Jasper pointed to an image on the screen. "Watch."_

 _He hit play. The video showed something fall out of the van. "Check this out." He zoomed in._

 _The others squinted. "A license plate?"_

" _Yeah," said Jasper. "Half of one, anyway." He pointed to the screen. The plate read_ A113 _and cut off there. "Look closer."_

 _Charlotte saw it first. "Oh," she breathed._

 _The plate had fallen out of the van, but had caught on something. "When is this?" Ray asked, referring to the video._

" _Right after they got Piper. They didn't notice, I think."_

 _Charlotte frowned. "What if it's a trap?"_

 _Jasper shrugged. "I don't think so." He made a few clicks. "It falls off later, but the van is alone at this point."_

 _Charlotte glanced over at Ray, who appeared to be thinking because he was stroking his chin. "What do you think?"_

 _Ray stopped stroking his chin and snapped his fingers. "I have an idea."_

* * *

"...and his idea was the extra Kid Dangers."

"Yeah, I kinda figured."

Ahead of the boys, Charlotte pushed open the doors to Junk N' Stuff. Jasper took his place behind the counter, and his friends started for the elevator.

Henry reaches for the button but stopped. "Remember," he said, looking at Charlotte.

She nodded. "She knows nothing."

Henry pushes the button. The initial falling of the floor was always a bit startling, but they were used to the falling at this point and usually landed on their feet.

Not today.

Henry and Charlotte were kind of stacked on top of each other when the elevator doors opened. Ray was sitting on the couch with Schwoz, shuffling a deck of cards. He looked up and, seeing them, laughed so hard he lost control of the cards. Schwoz snorted like his pig.

After they finally pulled themselves together, Ray held up the few remaining cards had had and said, "Personally, I think we all deserve a day off."

"What about Jasper?"

"His job was to stay put."

" _Ray_."

" _Fine_. Keep shuffling, I'll be right back." He handed the cards to Henry and stomped toward the elevator.

"Jasper, go downstairs," said Ray when he got up to the store.

"Kay kay!" Jasper, happy to obey his favorite superhero, skipped toward the elevator.

Ray was about to turn around and follow him, but he noticed something- a pair of 3D glasses- had been knocked over behind the counter.

He had just stood back up to put them where they belonged when the shop front door opened.

His first instinct was to scream and fight, it startled him so bad, but he didn't.

A woman walked into the store. She was tall, with the help of dark blue two-inch heels that matched her knee-length dress. Her hair was brown and a bit wavy and her body was tense; she looked like a female version of Ray.

"Rey?!" He exclaimed.

"Oh," said Rey, relaxing just a bit. "So you already know who I am."

"Oh. Uh… yeah." Ray swallowed. "What are you doing here?"

Yeah. Ray finally meets his half sister and _that's_ the first question he asks her.

"Well," said Rey, a bit sheepishly, "first, I owe you an apology."

Ray softened up a little bit. "For what?"

"Well… I, well, our… _mother_ finally mentioned you to me a couple of months back. I've been trying to work up the courage to talk you to. To you," she corrected herself quickly.

"Well…" said Ray slowly. "I kinda found out about you a while back. Not a super long while, but a while."

Rey smiled and took another step into the store. "You win."

Ray smiled a little. He walked over and sat down on the step. Rey did, too. Then Ray frowned. He couldn't resist asking. "So… how's Mom?"

Rey made a face. "I wouldn't know," she said, her voice harsh and soft at the same time. "She disowned me a long time ago."

 _Ouch._ "Oh... What happened? If you don't find me asking," he added quickly.

Rey rolled her eyes. "Apparently I'm 'the biggest disappointment since her last kid,'" she said, making quotation marks with her fingers. "That's how I found out about you, actually. She let it slip."

"Huh." There was a silence. "So… have you been here a while, or…?"

"No, I just moved here a few weeks ago. I've got a job as a news reporter here now." She grinned a little. "I'm sure you've heard of Captain Man, right?" Ray nodded. _Oh, jeez._ "I actually got to talk to him a bit. It was exciting. He's actually kinda cute."

 _Gag. Now I know how Henry feels._

Just as he was thinking this, there was a ding and a voice from the back room. "Ray? You up here?"

Both Ray and Rey looked up as Henry walked through the beads. He recognized Rey immediately.

"Hi there," he said awkwardly, trying to hide his surprise.

"Hello," she said back.

"Uh," Ray slowly stood up, "Rey, this is Henry. He works for me. Henry, this is Rey, my half sister."

"Nice to meet you," said Henry politely, reaching out to shake her hand.

"You too," Rey said with a smile. That's when her phone started going off. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, silencing it. "That's my alarm. I'm supposed to pick up my kids from their after-school clubs."

"Oh, yeah, go ahead!" Ray said. "Do, uh, do you wanna get together and talk sometime?"

Rey smiled. "I'd love that." Then, without warning, she came down the step and gave him a hug. Ray was startled, but hugged her back. Henry watched, smiling.

Ray and Rey finally broke apart, smiling. Rey left, looking back at her brother first.

"So," said Henry once she was gone, "that's Rey, huh?"

"Yeah," said Ray. They both watched the door and didn't look away until another voice scared the living daylights outta them.

"Did you guys forget how to use the elevator?" Charlotte smirked a little when she saw them jump.

"No," said Ray. "Something just came up."

"'Something'?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows.

Ray looked at Henry, then back at Charlotte. "Let's go downstairs," he said. "I've got something to tell you guys."

And so he did.

Everyone was really excited to find out that Ray had a sister. No one was mad that he didn't say anything before, and they were all very supportive.

Charlotte was the one to ask the burning question: "Does she know?"

Ray bit his lip. "No."

Henry asked the other burning question: "Are you going to tell her?"

"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know, you guys." He slumped down in his seat. "I just meant her, I wanna gain her trust first."

"You told me about five minutes after we meant," Henry pointed out.

Ray shrugged. "Yeah, but that's different."

Henry and Charlotte exchanged a look before shrugging. They were both thinking about Piper. Ray didn't want his own sister finding out. How would he react to Piper knowing?

 _Really, really badly._

* * *

 **Spellcheck kept telling me "Rey" was spelled wrong. ;P**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

_**Winter Break is heeeeeeeere, no homework 'til the new yeeeeeeeeear!...**_

* * *

Speaking of Piper, her day wasn't all that different from Henry and Charlotte's. She relied on the caffeine until she got home, where she proceeded to collapse on the couch and fall asleep.

She was waken a few hours later by her mom. "Evening, sleepy head."

"Hi," Piper mumbled, still tired.

"You okay, sweetie? I haven't seen you take a nap in years."

"Oh, yeah, I, um, woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep." It was sort of true.

"Oh, okay then. Your brother's on his way home. We're having chili balls for dinner tonight."

"Okay."

Piper dragged herself upstairs to Henry's room. There was still a bit of a mess, but nothing unimaginable. She cleaned up a little before hearing voices downstairs.

"Everything's already out on the counter, Henry."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Charlotte, you're welcome to stay."

"Oh, I'd love to, but my mom's expecting me."

"Okay, bye, sweetie."

"Bye, Mrs. H. Bye, Hen.

"Bye."

Piper watched Charlotte walk away towards her house. Jasper wasn't with her; his house was on the way to Henry's from Junk N' Stuff.

Piper walked downstairs. Her mom was on her computer, writing a work email, and her dad was doing needlepoint. Henry was working in the kitchen.

Piper quietly crept past her parents and stood behind Henry. She was really tempted to scare him, but decided not to.

She tapped his shoulder, and he jumped anyway. Last night's incident left him a little, well, shaken up.

"What?" Henry whispered, not unkindly.

Both of them glanced over their shoulders; their mom was doing something on her computer, facing the other direction. Henry was the first to turn back.

"So… you didn't say anything… right?" Piper whispered.

"Of course not," Henry whispered back. "Neither did Charlotte." He suddenly gave her a strange look. " _You_ didn't say anything, did you?"

"Of _course_ not!" Piper yell-whispered. She lowered her voice back. "Do… do you not trust me?"

Henry looked up from what would soon become chili balls, making eye contact with his little sister. "Pipes, a year ago, if you told me you knew who I was, I would have freaked. The fact that I'm not ratting you out to Ray is huge." He looked back down. "Both our butts are on the line here. And Charlotte's. Even Jasper's."

Henry looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead went back to the chili balls. Piper nodded and started to leave before she remembered something.

"Henry," she whispered, "remind me to talk to you about something later."

* * *

The meal seemed to drag along forever. Henry and Piper ate their food as fast as they could without their parents noticing, but even so, Mr. Hart made them listen to a story about how he almost tripped on his way home from the grocery store this afternoon, and Mrs. Hart chose that night to ask all the extra "How was school?" questions.

When the siblings finally did escape (ten minutes after they had both finished eating), they went to Henry's room and sat on the now-rightside up and sewn couch.

"So?" Henry said, having expected Piper to talk first.

 _Okay, here goes nothing._ "Okay. So… when I overheard-"

"When you eavesdropped."

"Whatever. When I heard you guys talking about Minyak, you also talked about that secret shoplifting organization, and earlier, when I was up here cleaning-"

"How many times have I told you to stay out of my- oh. Right. Go on."

"So anyway, when I was up here, _cleaning_ _your_ _trashed_ _room_ , I thought about something. What have you guys asked the guy? Like, did you have the cops ask that kid to give you information about where you can find his dad?"

 _What the butt is she talking about? Oh. Right. I remember._ It took Henry a minute to remember the whole thing with the guy holding her sack and his dad running a secret shoplifting organization. _Wait._ Henry smacked his forehead. "Of _all_ the _flipping_ questions we had the cops ask that guy, no one thought to ask him where we could find others."

"You guys are stupid."

"Shut up."

Piper went back to her room to get ready for bed. Henry did, too, but not before sending a text to Charlotte.

 _Henry: We are idiots. We didn't think to ask that guy where we'd could find other people._

She didn't respond until the next morning, having already fallen asleep.

 _Charlotte: See, this is what happens when you guys didn't listen to me. I texted Ray after he left to make sure the cops thought to ask him that._

Henry rolled his eyes. _Of_ course _she_ _thought_ _of_ _that_ _already._

* * *

Much more awake than they were yesterday, Henry and Charlotte snuck into the empty school auditorium to hide behind seats and call Ray. The school didn't care about electronics before the bell rang, but during school hours, cell phones were a big no-no. Not that every teacher (cough cough Ms. Shapen) bothers to enforce it.

Unlike Mr. Claudio and Ms. Zaslow, whom Henry and Charlotte had for their eight period classes, respectively. They hadn't been able to sneak out of lunch, so they both gotten bathroom passes. Some questionable looks would be received later if they took too long.

"Good thing there aren't any drama classes right now," said Charlotte as they crouched down. "Didn't you make out with Bianca down here once?"

Henry blushed furiously and flipped his watch open.

Ray answers on the fourth ring. "What's up? Is something wrong?"

 _Heck_ _yeah,_ thought Henry and Charlotte. "Kinda," Henry answered. "Ray, did the cops ask the guy-"

"Jack."

"What?"

"His name is Jack, not 'the guy'."

"Okay, then. Did the cops ask _Jack_ if he knew where to find his dad and the others?"

"Uh… no. They told me he kept trying to say something, though… oops."

"Yeah, oops," said Charlotte. "I texted you, by the way."

"What? No you didn't, I would've seen it."

"Check your phone."

"Fine, I'll check my- oh." Sure enough, Ray's phone was showing several text messages from Charlotte. "Uh… it was on silent?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"Just go talk to Jake, Ray," said Henry.

"Jack."

"Okay, whatever, we gotta get back to class."

"Fine, I'll have Captain Man talk to him."

"You are-"

"You know what I meant!" Ray hung up.

Rolling his eyes, Henry smacked his watch shut. "He had better not call during class."

"Yeah," said Charlotte as she began standing up. "Let's just get out of here before-"

"Who's there?!" A loud, angry voice echoed through the auditorium. Both of them knew it was Mrs. Kook, the crazy drama teacher. She was nice enough, but really strict about who comes into the auditorium when it's not for a show.

 _Well,_ _shoot._ Henry grabbed Charlotte's arm and yanked her back down, and they both had to keep from crying out in pain because she landed right on top of him.

They heard footsteps walking towards their row. _Go, go, go!_

Henry and Charlotte army crawled through the aisle and hid before Mrs. Kook reached them. They crawled until they reached the door and heard the teacher open the other door before bolting.

It was a good thing no one else was around, because Henry decided to use his Hyper Motility to get them away faster. They speed-walked back to their classes.

"That," breathed Charlotte, "was way to close."

"Yeah," said Henry. "Meet at our lockers after school like usual?"

"Yep."

"See ya."

"See ya."

* * *

 ** _Weeeeeee wish you a Merry Christmas-_**

 **Okay, okay, I'll stop singing now. I don't know who out there** **celebrates what holidays, so I hope whatever seasonal traditions/holidays all y'all had or will have were/will be wonderful. :)**

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**

 **P.S.: I snuck two Easter Eggs (or, for the season, Christmas Ornaments) into this chapter. Hint: they are both references to plays.**

 **P.P.S.: I've decided to make this a 25 chapter fic... so, sadly, it's almost over, but once I've finished I can chose a new one.**


	24. Chapter 24

Captain Man couldn't help feeling bad for Jack. The poor kid had to be in prison for nothing- well, he _was_ doing a lot of shoplifting, but that wasn't exactly of his own free will- all because his dad was a crazy criminal; Captain Man had never been happy with his own father, but he had to admit, Mr. Manchester could have been far, far, worse. _Even if he never told me about Rey._

Speaking of Rey, Captain Man spent a good chunk of the drive to Swellview Prison thinking about her. More specifically, whether or not to tell her about, you know, _that_ subject. _Maybe_ _someday._

Captain Man couldn't help thinking that it wouldn't be fair to his sidekick. If Rey knew, that would give Henry a reason to believe he has the right to tell Piper. (Captain Man was still clueless about Piper knowing.) _Then_ _again,_ he thought, _we all know Piper can't be trusted. He'll never tell her._

Oh, the irony.

Anyway, Jack was waiting for Captain Man in a special area where inmates could visit. The room was labeled as the "Well-Behaved Visitor's Center." Captain Man guessed that, since Jack was in prison mostly for his own safety, he qualified as someone allowed in the "Well-Behaved" section. Like the "Well Kids" and "Sick Kids" waiting rooms of his old pediatrician.

Plus, the security guards agreed to empty out the room for a few minutes for the sake of the interrogation. A few other inmates were grumpy about it, but one of the security guards pointed out that, if not for whatever they had done to land themselves in prison, they wouldn't have to deal with this issue.

Ouch.

Jack looked both hopeful and nervous when Captain Man arrived. Naturally, the superhero opulent help but wonder if Jack was a fan. (He was, actually, but was about, say, the opposite of Piper when it came to thinking about Captain Man and Kid Danger.)

"So," the superhero said as he sat down. "How's it going?" _Okay,_ that _was_ _a_ _stupid_ _question._

"Not bad, actually," responded Jack. "Anywhere away from my dad is considered 'not bad' in my book."

"I thought I knew a thing or two about what having a bad father was like, but, well..." Captain Man's voice trailed off, not really sure how to finish that sentence. "Well, anyway, I realize you were questioned already, but, well, it's come to my attention that-"

"That I tried giving information about where to find others, but it was ignored." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yeah. That. So… what ya got?"

* * *

"He sang like a canary," said Captain Man to his sidekick. "Isn't that what I said before?"

It was a few hours later. As soon as Henry, Charlotte and Jasper got to work after school, Ray hustled Henry to the tubes, a super gumball in hand. They transformed as they sped up; it actually looked really cool.

Anyway, they found themselves crawling through the vents of Mr. Luke's apartment. (Mr. Luke was Jack's dad.)

"Yeah," said Kid Danger. "I believe it was."

"Jack said that there was an address book specifically for the whole organization in his dad's desk somewhere," said Captain Man as he and Kid Danger dropped into a room that was set up like an office. " _And_ there's another robbery planned for tomorrow night. We get that address book, we can stop everything."

"Yep," said Kid Danger, switching on his flashlight. The room was dark, with the exception of two flashlight beams.

On one side of the room, there was a giant cork board. It appeared to have different pictures and maps on it. For shoplifting different places, probably.

Captain Man aimed his flashlight towards a wall clock. "Jake said his dad should be out until about seven- some kind of organization meeting- so we should have a few hours."

"Should," said Kid Danger, waving his flashlight. _Wait._ "Ray, I thought you said his name was Jack?"

"Yeah, that's what I've been saying."

"You just called him Jake."

"Pffffff... no, I did not, I, um, oh, look, there's his desk!"

Letting that conversation go, the two superheroes pawed through the desk. Sure enough, in one of the drawers, there was a thick, brown address book.

"You think we should take it?" Kid Danger asked. Captain Man looked at his sidekick like he was crazy. "Why wouldn't we?"

"What if we just took pictures and left the book here? He'll probably notice if it's gone and know something's up."

"I guess you're right. Pull out your phone, let's take them now, while we don't have to worry about getting caught, since Mr. Luke isn't even home."

And it was at that _exact_ moment that they heard the front door swing open and hit the wall.

"Shoot!" Captain Man hissed. Well, something like that, anyway.

"Let's go!" Forgetting all about taking pictures, Kid Danger raced toward the open vent. Captain Man boosted him up, and then followed.

Exactly five seconds after the vent cover was back in place, the office door opened.

Captain Man was able to kinda sorta see the guy. Jack has described him so they were able to recognize him. Mr. Luke was bald, his light-skinned head reflecting the overhead light he had turned on. Captain Man could see a very dirty tattoo on the back of his neck.

Both him and Kid Danger were sure Mr. Luke would go to his desk and figure out his address book was missing, but fortunately, he did not. Mr. Luke just reached into a mini fridge and pulled something out- let's just say it wasn't a can of Sprite- and left the room without turning off the light or even closing the door.

"Let's go," whispered Captain Man. He had to crawl backwards until he backed into a wider space and was able to turn and face forward. Kid Danger led the way to wear they had crawled in from the roof. They climbed back into the Man Copter. Captain Man refused to let Kid Danger drive- he was still a little miffed about the whole incident from last time- and they took off.

"That," said Kid Danger as they flew back to the Man Cave, "was way too close."

"You're telling me," said Captain Man. "I swear I thought he was going to see me"

"Let's just hope he doesn't realize this is missing," said Kid Danger, holding up the address book. He flipped through it; every page had plenty of people. Some even had sticky notes because there wasn't enough room. "This is going to take forever."

The super pair took the address book to the police station. A few cops were called to go help capture people, but the whole process took so long that it didn't get done until almost nine.

Charlotte and Jasper had already gone home, so Henry did, too. When he finally arrived back at his own house, he found his little sister sitting in the couch, watching TV.

"So?" Piper asked immediately, turning the TV off. "How'd it go?"

"Good. Great, actually." Henry sat down on the couch, where Piper was giving him her full attention. "It took a long time, but we managed to find everyone. The cops even took care of Mr. Luke for us."

"Who?"

"The guy's dad. His name is Jack. Jack was released from the prison, and now he can find an apartment and get a real job and stuff."

"That's good," said Piper, really meaning it. "So you guys are all done with these people."

"Yeah. For now, at least."

"Cool. Oh, and Mom and Dad are at a friend's house. There's leftover pizza in the fridge."

"Cool."

Henry and Piper wanted to talk while he ate, but their parents finally got back home, so they couldn't bring up "that" topic while they were around. They both still wanted to catch up on sleep, anyway.

Before he could, though, Henry thought about what Piper said, about how she figured everything out because he was talking in his sleep. He turned on his side. _What if it had been someone else? Like one of my parents, or if someone broke in?_

The thought made him shiver. _I need a distraction._

Henry reached for his phone, surfing the Internet in order to keep himself from playing "What If" all night. He finally fell asleep at about two in the morning, and dreamed nothing.

* * *

 **So... next week is when the last chapter wil be posted... *sobs***

 **I have picked out a new story and release date, and I'll tell y'all the release date next week. I haven't come up with a title yet, but I'll try to have on by next week.**

 **Also: I'll give y'all another week for last chapter's Christmas eggs... did I really just type that. I meant Easter Eggs... *sigh***

 **Ciao, and Happy Reading!**


	25. Epilogue

Epilogue

Piper knew she had to play the game, something Henry and Charlotte had been doing for years. It wouldn't be easy, but the alternative….

Well, no one really wanted to think about that.

Take, for example, the whole thing with Jasper lying to Patina. Piper fully knew that her brother didn't owe Jasper any favors, not as Henry nor as Kid Danger. Or, less recently, the "makeup excuse" incident. Even if she didn't have every detail right then, she fully knew that something to do with Kid Danger was up.

Speaking of details, Piper definitely got- and still gets- a whole lot of them. Even if she doesn't get to go down to the Man Cave, or help Charlotte track down villians, or spar with Henry (something she really, really, wanted to do), her big brother always told her about his missions, times when things went wrong, and different successes that were amazingly hard to achieve.

And it really _was_ about the little details. Because, really, Piper knew more than everyone else (except for, you know, the obvious people, like Henry and Ray) about what Captain Man and Kid Danger did. Even so, there were small things that no one got to hear about, like how Henry actually got fired _and_ quit his job before, along with the the stories of how these different events happened.

Piper may have been the President of the Man Fans, but she still had a lot to learn.

As a matter of fact, she almost wasn't. It occurred to her one day that being Man Fans president might not be safe now that she knew. Henry agreed there were risks involved, but, as Charlotte pointed out when they asked her about it, Piper quitting would raise suspicions.

So she stayed.

Henry and Piper's parents are (still) clueless. Let's face it, something would have to go horribly wrong for them to find out. Henry fully trusts Piper to not tell them… even when he thinks about how she told on him for sneaking in late that one time.

Siblings, am I right?

Anyway, since Piper, the number of people who know hasn't increased… yet.

The day after his birthday, Henry was laying down, trying to get to sleep, when something occurred to him. He sat up and started counting on his fingers.

One: Charlotte, the smartest person he knew, had figured out he was Kid Danger by sniffing his head. Actually, the head sniffing was more of a confirmation. She noticed his strange behavior, absences, everything that was suspicious as he struggled to balance his life as Henry with his life as Kid Danger. Of course, his intelligent beyond belief best friend would figure it out.

Two: Jasper, his oldest (even if not best) friend, hadn't _figured_ out Henry was Kid Danger. He _found_ out. The note in the locker was scary, and if Jasper hadn't left it, Henry wouldn't have believed he knew. Actually, if Henry had just told Jasper the truth about going to the movie theatre with his (Henry's, not Jasper's) mom, that whole scenario could have been avoided. There were countless times Henry could say "If only" an lost something that could have kept Jasper from finding out. All the same, however, Henry was glad he didn't have to lie to Jasper anymore. About being Kid Danger, anyway. Now he has to hide the third person on his list.

Three: Piper, his baby sister, had put the pieces of the puzzle together. Henry had zero idea before the adventure of Piper finding out that he sleep talked. He has no idea how long he's been doing it, or how often. Henry had, the day _before_ his birthday, actually Googled _how to keep from sleep talking_ , except he accidentally typed _sleep_ w _alking_ the first time. A lot of what came up- don't eat before bed, get exercise during the day, stuff like that- wasn't exactly helpful to him because he did that already. One thing that came up was _reduce stress_. Henry rolled his eyes. _Like that's going to happen._ Henry was far less stressed about his life/lives then he used to be, but it was still there. _Maybe I could ask Schwoz. As long as he doesn't find out about Piper._

Henry looked back at his fingers. _Am I missing anyone? I don't think so._ There were three people who figured/found out about Henry's biggest secret, and he had done something to help. Not on purpose, but still.

Henry thought about Gwen. Gwen found out because Ray- well, Captain Man, technically- had done something stupid. Not Henry, who couldn't help smiling a little. _At least that one wasn't me._ Then he realized that he had eaten one of Gwen's muffins later that day. _Well… I don't tell her the secret, anyway._ Henry added a finger.

Gooch (wherever he was), Schwoz, Winnie, that girl Ray used to take hula lessons from… _who else knows?_ Invisible Brad, Boris (even if he hasn't been around in years), the Game Shakers… it was becoming seriously scary how many people knew.

Henry thought for a minute on the Game Shakers. They only found out because- _What's his name again? Hudson, that was it-_ had found his gumball tube. Henry has never been intent on letting four random (well, random-ish) people camp out in his room, but after _that_ adventure he was extra careful. In fact, he had been meaning to ask Schwoz for some kind of lock.

Henry knew he was missing others, but he didn't want to keep counting. He had already gotten to fourteen people. This was nothing compared to the billions of people who lived on Earth (including the astronauts who were up in space), but communication was so technological and easy now, the news would spread like wildfire.

Henry rolled over on his side. _Why do so many people know already?_

He thought about texting Charlotte, but hadn't had more than a few seconds to consider it before his phone dinged.

 _Charlotte: Are you okay?_

 _Henry: How'd you know?_

 _Charlotte: Because I'm your best friend._

 _Henry: True._

 _Charlotte: So what's up?_

 _Henry: Just thinking._

 _Charlotte: About?_

 _Henry: Everything._

 _Charlotte: Can you be more specific?_

 _Henry: Everything related to me being you-know-who._

 _Charlotte: Let me guess, you're worried about how many people have found out?_

See? This is why they're best friends; they get each other.

 _Henry: Yeah._

 _Charlotte: I thought so. Look, I've been thinking, too..._

 _Henry: You're not going to tell Ray, are you?_

 _Charlotte: Read the whole text._

Henry went back.

 _Charlotte: I thought so. Look, I've been thinking, too. I'm not going to tell Ray, or anything, but something like fifteen people know about you-know-what and it's really bugging me._

Henry scrolled back down.

 _Henry: My bad. I agree, only I got to fourteen before I stopped counting._

 _Charlotte: Yeah. But think about it: almost everyone who knows right now will keep our secret. Out of fear, probably, but still._

 _Henry: What about Gwen? We've practically given up on trying to track her down._

 _Charlotte: We have every machine in the Man Cave ready to alert us if they find even a trace of her._

 _Henry: I know. It's not really how many people know so much as how many more will find out, I guess. It's really starting to scare me, Charlotte._

 _Charlotte: Me too, Henry. I don't know what else to tell you._

Just then, a message came in from Jasper to both Henry and Charlotte.

 _Jasper: Guess Who Ate Too Much And Can't Get To Sleep?_

 _Charlotte: I'm guessing you._

 _Jasper: Yep. Who Wants To Play Online Uno!_

 _Henry: Sure, set it up._

 _Jasper: Yay!_

Henry switched back over to his messages with Charlotte.

 _Henry: How long should we play before pretending to fall asleep?_

 _Charlotte: How nice of you._

 _Henry: I don't want to tell him that I don't want to play!_

 _Charlotte: I'm sighing at you right now._

 _Henry: I'm not surprised._

Henry, Charlotte and Jasper played a few rounds of online Uno before Jasper himself fell asleep. Henry wanted to keep texting Charlotte, but was too tired to hold his phone up.

Maybe it was the texting, or the playing, but Henry woke up the next morning feeling a little more optimistic.

Maybe they'll stage something some day, whether it's planned on not. Maybe more people will get to find out Piper knows.

But whatever happens, every member or the gang was going to keep the secret safe.

* * *

 **Well, that's it, y'all. Thanks so much, especially the people took the time to write reviews (much appreciated!) and the ones who were around reading this story since last year.**

 **Yeah. I make _those_ jokes. ;)**

 **Also, Easter Eggs from Chapter 23: the teachers were references to _Much Ado About_ _Nothing_ (Claudio) and _Zink: the Myth, the Legend, the Zebra_ (Mr. Zaslow). (Yes, I am a theatre geek. Why do you ask?)**

 **Also also (not much more, I promise!), I have decided to release my next story on Feburary 10, 2019. I know that's a bit longer than last time, but I need the time to start writing, so I don't fall behind, and it just occured to me about five minutes ago that I also need to do the cover. Given that, and that contest season is soon arriving (not to mention a show weekend), I'm waiting just a little longer this time.**

 **Uhh... there was something else but I can't remember what it was... Oh well.**

 **Ciao, and See Y'all Next Time!**


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